ive had some odd things said to me about my asthma over the years but today was funny. i was discussing the breathing method i use to help calm my breaths and i was told that i should think of my stomach as my mouth and breath through there...yep i know it makes sense but im not 10 lol....anyone else had anything like that said to them?
thing said to you as an asthmatic - Asthma Community ...
thing said to you as an asthmatic
446 Replies
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I got sent to physio for my asthma. The physio announced to the group we where there as we suffered from panic attacks and hyperventilation. This was after we stated our names and illness. I remained quiet and played along as felt sorry for the physio. Rest of group was gonna kill her !!!!
She did give good tips and seen her a few times since for asthma. The consultant laughed when i told him.
I've had folk tell me that I can't possibly have asthma, since I'm a grown up. That their kids had it when a child but grew out of it in their teens.
DH and close friends still get really defensive on my behalf when someone comments like this.
when i told my mum i'd been diagnosed earlier this year, she said i couldn't have asthma because i don't have any of the symptoms!! Oh ok yeah of course, silly me, of course i don't have that elephannt sat on me, struggle to breathe when i.m running, blow up like a balloon when i can't breathe out properly etc etc.
Granny mo just ignore people like that. Some people don't deserve an answer. But like u my family get very defensive over my asthma. My 12 year old daughter is the best. She speaks loud enuff so others hear and the culprit usually has a red face !!!
Last time I went to A&E the triage nurse told me that I couldn't possibly be having an asthma attack as it hadn't come on suddenly!!
How about ""you just need to go outside for some fresh air""
Erm yeah thanks, dependent on the time of year outside has cold air, pollen and/or mold spores, all major triggers for me not to mention potential for a bunch of other triggers like diesel fumes and smoke etc.
Having been rushed into A and E and after a week in hospital someone said
""Sorry to hear about your Asthma, though I am glad is not something more serious"" how more serious could it get I couldn't breathe!
Have you took your inhaler?
Standing in a no smoking zone outside the local hospital with my aminophylline drip, asked a smoker to refrain from smoking 1. Because it was a no smoking zone, 2. I was just recovering from a severe attack. Reply ""Well I have Asthma and I am all right!
Oh i hate the 'have you taken your inhalers?'
Like im not going to take them, just to see what happens! Of course iv bloody taken them!
Recently - 'you will have to learn to cope with it like most people manage to do'
After being in hospital for a bad attack recently someone asked to visit me, my hubby said no as I was still getting out of breath just by talking. So they rang me instead!
S.Mama
That happened to me when I'd laryngitis recently. LOL Not.
Once had a Sister in A and E come in, tell me to ""just think positive"" while I was struggling. The doctor had said I needed some oxygen and a nebuliser and she said ""Oh, I don't think so, I can't really hear you wheezing."" in the end I had to ask the doctor again and use my own Omron Nebuliser instead. She wasnt best pleased.
Then there was my friend who has a back condition she turned around and told me that ""I'm in constant pain and I just deal with it, yes you are in pain and cant breathe but you will have to as well."" Needless to say, I ignored her till she appologised lol
Lying down
As I've said before at 57 I'm new to asthma but when I was being rushed into hospital the paramedics kept wanting me to get on the stretcher and lay down. I can't I said cos I can't breathe if I do - 'yes you can just relax and you will be fine you are panicking' I'm not having difficulty cos I'm panicking my lungs won't let the air in.- needles to say I walked to my front door!
I once had a total stranger come over, while I was sat on the floor nebbing, and insist on telling the paramedic that all I needed was to breathe into a paper bag!
I got told I didn't look like an asthmatic........
2 years of constantly being on prednisolone I now look like the mitchelin tyre man !!!!
'Asthma's not life threatening' previous workplace
'Is your condition proven and not just panic attacks', previous workplace - after I'd been blue lighted to local resuss - (sure they have money to waste on non serious cases)
And then 'You're obviously over sensitive'
And then 'It's your fault as you have a cat' but I am not allergic to them, proven by tests, now who's being over sensitive?
'Well you look OK to me!' next time I'll not bother showering/washing before coming to the surgery or I'll ask a doc to come and see me at home instead of asking my partner to take time of work to take me
'You're not wheezing' but I can't speak/breathe/stop coughing and have nearly collapsed 3 times
'You'll just have to live with it' WHAT! Peak flow jumps from 510 to 105 over night + quick onset acute attacks when exposed to cold virus
Then at my next A&E visit 'Why haven't you been to your docs?' weren't happy when I said I had
'Oo you don't want to be using those inhalers, full of nasties'
And finally being asked to complete a hyperventilation check list - if only we could hyperventilate!!!
Watching me get blue inhaler out last night - 'That'll be the pollen. My DD gets all hayfever.'
um, ok
'Gets it bad, she does. Gets tablets.'
go to take puff
'Be the cold draft bothering you? We've all got colds just now, not just you'
for the umpteenth time, it's not the temperature, it's the barometric pressure, I say indicating reading of 32 on phone app.
'yes DD gets that pollen forecast too.
aagghh!!!
Plus the other eedjit that always greets me with 'not got rid of that asthma yet? I'm surprised. Thats two years you've had that cold'
Oh I do love my friends dearly but come on..
This beats them all .....
Was getting admitted by a nurse who has had previous dealings with me said "" ur not as bad as usuall ur not wheezing. I said ""I don't normally wheeze "". Wait for it ... She said that's funny I dont wheeze either i just looked she then said I don't have asthma !!!!!!!!
Oh my gosh gussy thats shocking
never fails to surprise me the stupidness of people from your replies said to people with asthma. i knew i wouldnt be alone....i do however have a good one to add that was said during my recent admission. im vegetarian and desperate for something to eat and the only things they had which i was told by them that was definately veggie was ..... egg fillings (not too bad as if free range i will eat if nothing else but its not strictly strict veggie which is what i explained my diet is) and a tuna fish cake- seriously. i said its not veggie-yep it is its not meat-well yep it is really as its fish and its still flesh and thats classed as meat- well can you not just eat it anyway if your hungry. also given a pudding that apparently was also veggie but after a spoon realised it was made from beef suet-yak- needless to say i waited until the next day until was brought in food ....not big in the grand scheme of things but when everything is hurting on you and lack of sleep and food it really naffed me off that a hospiotal cant cater for vegeatrians (or also they gave a dementia patient a meal that had bread in it after being told by relative that she has celiac illness)
Hey Jay39, I have had the same problem with hospital staff being disrespectful of my Vegetarianism and the fact that I can't have dairy products. I was told to just get on with it and eat what I was given. I picked at some veggies and waited for Steve to come in and bring me something yummy and safe to eat.
Then theres when they wake you up and tell you to go back to sleep... I HATE THAT!
I've had some pretty stupid comments from teachers, here are some of the worst:
Chem teacher: Well I didnt think it was too bad (she says refering to a chemistry lesson which landed me in hospital)
Why are you breathing so fast (right after she had watched me get my inhaler out and take 4 puffs)
Maths teacher:
Either stop coughing or get out of the classroom now (she says completly ignoring the person who sprayed perfume everywhere and starting me coughing in the first place)
P.E teacher:
Why do you have a red reliever inhaler? (Am i expected to answer questions while i am lying on the floor gasping for breath and turning blue?)
Me:
Miss, please dont spray that aerosol, i have asthma and i only got out of hospital last night
Physics teacher:
Dont worry i'm only spraying it near my desk. (she says clearly expecting it not to spread to the front row of desks, which are about a meter from her own desk, then looks confused when i have to leave her lesson and go to the nurse)
My friend:
Miss, Lorna's having another asthma attack!
Nurse:
Have a paracetamol!
On a school trip:
My teachers carried my volumatic round in one piece, i thought it would be a bit rude to tell them it came appart and became half the size after they had been carrying it for 3 days!
I think it is scary how little some teachers now about asthma!
I got told,there are lots of people with asthma and now you have your reliever inhaler
you should be better so have you been taking it and take some now and stop moaning !!!
this one is not so much what what said but what someone did- in hospital for my asthma i was put in a side ward (right next to the mens loos - nice!). at the end of the corridor, next to my room was a lovely christmas tree. the staff (who knew why i was there) were feeling festive and nicely put a plug in xmas air freshner in next to the tree- oh the joys of ignorance xxx
Another asthmatic told me that when she was having an asthma attack that she was running up and downstairs trying to find her inhaler...then asked me why I had had time off work with asthma!
You would think a fellow asthmatic would understand
funnily enough, my ex's sister did that once, was running around the house screaming ""I'M HAVING AN ASTHMA ATTACK"" at the top of her lungs, it did make me giggle a bit.
Saw her again recently, i was nebbing at the bus stop and she asked why i couldnt be like her...
Was told by an ex-boss that my asthma was psychosomatic!
'its ok just take a deep breath i cant breathe you moron
Sitting in warm maternity hospital yesterday, having walked in from chilly car park, started coughing my head off. Waiting area deserted but could hear staff laughing and joking along the corridor. As I fumbled for my inhaler, a doc stuck his head around the corner saying he'd heard someone coughing a lot and was I ok?
I said its asthma and anticipating the next question to be something along the lines of - 'do you have an inhaler with you?' - I said, 'but I do have my inhaler with me'.
Oh, I don't know anything about inhalers, he said. And went back to join his pals laughing and joking down the corridor.
PS wondering if this was the same idiot that said DD didn't have swine flu but results came back and she did.
well today my inlaw said the doctors arnt doing u any good and not getting u better and her sister is ok on inhaler and she got a up to date one. told her im on 3 and 3 lots of tabs.She knows im not well and been A n E and walk in centre over xmas. She then says the A n E are going stop time wasters going if can be seen at walk in centre and said why do I need go A n E. i was angry by then and said because i carnt breath.
A couple of months ago a nurse told me that, being an asthmatic, I should wheeze. Then stressed that I should only take ventolin when I was breathless.
I'm still trying to work out if theres any truth in it, for me they usually come together. I guess those that don't wheeze would have all the usual problems with this logic?
My asthma, I feel, was missed for years as I've never wheezed, I show a clear chest when its sounded and only ever coughed. If coughing uncontrollably was an Olympic sport, I'd win hands down.
On the really chilly days when I cough so much and need a lot of ventolin, I do wonder if it would be useful or not, to go make the journey to A&E or whether to deal with it myself. On the whole, I've never felt quite bad enough to call the blues and twos, so cross fingers, haven't had to find out. Maybe if I was a wheezer, I'd feel more confident about the reception at A&E depts.
Whilst visitng my GP for a routine appointment, he advised that should I did breathing exercises during a coughing fit which lasted the whole appointment. He also advised I could use as much Ventolin as I wanted. Ended up on Pred a week later as it didn't improve. Three months later it still playing up and resulted in a second course of Pred and change to my inhalers.
Having read about Personal Asthma Plans on this website, I then asked for one and was advised to see the Asthma Nurse who told me she doesn't see patients with serious Asthma like mine and I should speak to my consultant - they wonder why I try and avoid them as much as possible!
First time I asked for a Personal Action Plan, the nurse said she didn't have time to do it as needed some calculations. Insisted I should have one. Took all of ten minutes.
About a year later, felt I needed a re-jig of the plan. This time it was a different nurse who did it there and then with no fuss. 2011 will be third year with asthma, review coming up. Booked in with that second nurse.
I am always interested to hear other people praising asthma nurses. At my surgery, I don't seem to have much luck with them unless I see the 'top' one and she is now a nurse practitioner. The last one i saw in the summer left me speechless! I had been on 2 courses of pred and been told by my GP to book an appt with an asthma nurse. After a 2 1/2 week wait for an appt, she said, 'I've never met anyone like you and I don't know what to suggest.' I use symbicort SMART and hadn't needed a spacer or ventolin since starting it nearly 3 years before and she didn't even know if she could prescribe me a ventolin inhaler!! I was sent away empty handed, with no action plan and i knew i could only take 6 puffs of symbicort at one time and a max of 12 in 24 hours. She had to ask someone after my appt and ring me later to let me know. I'm back under a consultant and awaiting more tests and results now but, I don't have a clue who to see when I next need a review at my surgery!! Not this nurse, that's for sure. How do you know which is the best one without going through them all? It would be so nice to have the support of a good one.
Jac
Jf if needing a review why don't u request all appointments with the nurse u like. My gp practice has an excellent nurse practitioner, As I attend hospital that often I don't need to see her but my daughter does and was great when my daughter went thro the non compliance mode
Hi Gussypoo,
I was wondering if i could request an appt with her in the future. She no longer covers the asthma clinics but I'm sure I could ask!! I know I wont need a review for a while as still being re-assessed by a consultant but hearing you mention the idea has made me decide i will try.
Thanks jac
During my recent admission a nurse told me the dr had changed my atrovent neb to spiriva. When I told her I'm on home nebs and not inhalers I got Told spiriva inhaler was the same as a neb so just to take it. Needless to say she got a quick education on difference between a neb and an inhaler !!!! And I got my atrovent neb.
GP today, suggested maybe I only have asthma when have a cold. No need to keep taking rescue inhaler as felt my breathlessness down to catarrgh. After all, my chest was clear! So no antibiotics, add-on treatment. Just to cut out reliever and not worry at inability to take the seretide 250 for last two months.
NB I'm making appt with asthma nurse asap.
Edit: posted twice from mobile.
stupid things said to you as an asthmatic-
'you are hyperventilating'
'try slowing your breathing down' -this naffed me off, as if i hadnt thought of this!
'you ok?' made me laugh later after id stopped coughing
my chemisstry teacher told me to go and stand by a closed window once
probably the worst thing said to me was by a first aider in a place I used to work. I was having a pretty bad one then they said ""you are hyperventilating"" and then preceded to get an airtight PLASTIC bag and place it over my nose and mouth to breathe into until I got to the hospital. Needless to say I didn't feel too hot when I got there......
Beware of some well-meaning first aiders. That's like the first aider who kept trying to offer me a large brandy as I sat in the snow waiting for an ambulance to come pick me up, some years ago. Not asthma - open tib & fib.
my partner when i was first diagnosed and was doing PF readings every day and coming on this site:
""you know lizzie, i think you are going too far with this. lots of people have asthma; there is no need to work yourself up and you are going too far now""
my reply:
""but i am scared it will impact my future as i want to join the police""
reply:
""nah you will be fine... besides you have never had a proper attack anyways""
So what was that when i woke my partner up in the middle of the night by bighting her foot because didnt have anough breath to call out to her while sat on the floor not able to breath??
the best thing is: SHE HAS ASTHMA TOO. but only has the blue inhaler. STILL was on home nebs when a child, as her mother tells me!
Just breath mother .... have you taken your meds ?? ....aaaaggghh kids lol
This coming from one of the nurses in the hospital..
""Just settle yourself and you'll be fine
Reply to JF
JF, I know how you feel, I have refused to see the asthma nurse at the practice now, the evil witch lol
It was Friday morning and I was struggling to breathe and had run out of ventolin, asked her for a prescription, she refused, said I had gone past my limit for the year, and could have nothing till i had a review on Tuesday. Needless to say I wheedled one from the Pharmacy, and got a scipt from the GP. Otherwise who knows?
I filled in a form for my chemistry classes, and on it I was asked ""do you have any respitory issues"" or something along those lines, so I wrote asthma.
Two weeks later, a practical chemistry class and I have an attack. The teacher follows me out of the classroom and says ""why didn't you tell one of the staff? Another girl has asthma, so its ok"". I wasn't sure what baffled me more- the fact that I had told them in the form, which they obviously ignored, OR that I (who had had asthma for 2 months and hadn't a clue of my triggers- especially lab chemicals) was being compared to another asthmatic?
Something similar happened to an epileptic with a poorly controlled condition in my friends class. I hope that after pointing out that their system was illogical and that the forms we spent half a lesson filling in were obviously a waste of time, and I left, that the system changed, for the sake of anyone else who may fall into the category of having a chronic condition!
Reply to Cubi
Hi cubi,
It is ridiculous we are unable to get basic relievers isn't it?
I have just been reading the messages under 'asthma action plan' in the General forum section and again, people are having similar unhelpful experiences to us with asthma nurses. I am going to follow Katina's suggestion when i am next due an asthma review and approach the Practice Manager to see who is qualified enough to give me adequate support. I don't know about you but, I don't have time to waste seeing someone who clearly doesn't know what they are doing? It would be good to see their asthma qualifications wouldn't it?! lol
Jac
I for one think it is disgusting that they would put a limit on something so vital. When my asthma is in a good mood, 2 Ventolin Inhalers can last me about a month, when it is being troublesome, I can be wheezy and use one in a day (personal record).
Is all this money saving rubbish really worth risking the lives of so many people?
Usage
Blimey winged angel, I want your GP surgery if I use more than 2 a month they pull me for a telling off, they have limited my script to 1 each time now, because I used up 1 in 3 days.
JF
That's a thought?? Is there such a thing as a qualification in the treatment of asthma, whenever I saw the nurse she read to me from Brochures, which I found quite insulting .. I felt like saying its my lungs that are cranky not my brain or eyes. However the good manners instilled in me prevented that from occurring. lol
Cubi
When asthma nurses first came into being, they did have extra training but, in recent years with my experiences i am wondering if this is still the case. Does anyone else know?
Jac
Soya Bean Allergy
This chestnut came from Steve's dad. After he picked us up after an admission, he was trying to convince me that the reason I was having ""asthma-like"" symptoms, or so he had heard on the radio was that I could be allergic to soya beans. I drink soya milk as I am lactose intolerant and have not had any symptoms relating to that at all.
Had I not been so tired and weak, I would have laughed.
Cubi: I think if your surgery is doing that to you, I would try and see another one, that really is appauling. My surgery know how my asthma behaves, and will give me more nebs and the rest of it if i need it.
Someone told me today to stop having asthma attacks if I want to get a new job.
Asthma Nurse
Seeing the new Asthma Nurse on Tuesday, hopefully she will have more of an idea of whats happening. I have decided to be stubborn, or more properly put .. stick up for myself:- I want answers, I want clarity on what these meds are doing to me, getting fed up of throwing up, or running to the loo. This is getting more frequent when I'm on Steroids, is this normal? I have had controlled asthma for 40 years, why is it now so out of control, what are the triggers?, why now? Heck I'm waffling, but lets see what Miss New Nurse has to say.
CUBI - I had my Ventolin Inhalers reduced to one a month because they were the brand Ventolin and not a generic version. I queried this because I had two a month for yonks, and so got the prescription changed back to two. Thankfully I have a good medical practice and treated as an ""Expert Patient"" yep that's what is noted on my records so I get listened to. I am Brittle so get through a massive amount of meds anyway. But for a normal to moderate Asthmatic using a salbutamol inhaler more than 4 times a week means that your Asthma isn't controlled and needs to be looked into my someone more specialist in this area. Though saying that though no one should be left without a supply of Salbutamol, and should this happen immediate action should be taken, even if it means getting stroppy in the doctor's waiting room. If this was to happen to me, I would refuse to leave because I know my life is more important than guidelines and budgets.
Hi, been reading how some of you are not. being treated too well or having probs with meds/&or asthma nurse
I have to be honest, it comes as quite a shock.
Ive always been treated very well by my gp & the asthma nurse.
I have no probs getting inhalers, nebules, or anything else i have needed
The asthma nurse is great!!
She listens to what i say & Ive never left feeling patronised or hacked off.
My doc is also very good. If I have any probs related to asthma, or anything else, he is never dismissive
A few years ago when I was having an attack at work my boss (at the time) asked me what number he had to ring to get me an ambulance !
You've had asthma all your life, thats not a problem
From a very close member of my family who is also a nurse with decades of experience. I did try and explain that asthma can move in mysterious ways but she didn't want to listen, even tried to explain the BTS steps but that didn't work either. Theres no telling some, am not a very popular family member. Am very thankful for friends,
yorkieiron: That is unreal! Don't know if I should laugh or cry! Am glad you survived the boss.
Funniest thing said to me few yrs ago on cinema
Stop coughing or leave
Well that is clean version, but you get the picture 
I remember a few years ago (before we all had mobiles) I was feeling rough, short of breath and pretty much out of it, I was out in the local shopping centre at the time and so I managed to get to a pay phone to try and ring my parents, my dad answered the phone (he doesn't have the best of hearing as it is) and all he could hear was me gasping for air, he thought that he was getting a sick / crank caller heavy breathing and so hurled a volley of insults down the phone at me before promptly hanging up on me !
I had also just used my last 10p on that call.
where to start!!
1. you cant be an asthmatic, you dont wheeze (seem to wheeze lot more compared to before)
2. u are a fake asthmatic
3. take a deep breath
4. slow ur breathing down, ur hyperventilating?!
5. you taken ur inhalers?
6. ur asthma is mild ( dispite itu/hdu admissins? really??)
7. referred to psych for anxiety and physio for hyperventilation (negative)
8. take some sleeping pills, that will help your tite chest.
hmmmm.....
anymore i remember i let u knw x
I got told I was having a panic attack ermmmm I think I know the difference!!!!
ha, yea a clear difference! hmmmm... and tey call themselves the 'experts' ?
oh and
1. your sats are fine you cant be asthmatic.
2. my lips were blue and i was clearly hypoxic, yet my sats were >90% i dont always drop my sats
3. y cant u take a deep breath, ur chest is clear theres no wheeze? umm... maybe cos i have silent chest!!
yesterday i told my friend whom i have not known for very long, that I have asthma.
She replied ""i dont know much about asthma. i dont know what i would do if someone was having an attack- probably give them a paper bag to breathe in and call 999""
she is smart, intelligent and a medical student....
i didnt know what to say. i still dont. Im speechless.
I spent most of yesterday afternoon coughing. After one particular bout, which lasted about a hour, I'm leaning on my desk exhausted, surrounded by used tissues, face red, eyes streaming and one of my bosses said 'Are you all right?'
NO!
The other week in AnE a doctor said to me that he didn't know what was wrong with me but it certainly wasn't asthma, to be on the safe side though he got his colleague to to have a quick look at me, within 5 mins the other doctor confirmed that it was asthma and I was admitted !
my best one was my gp who told me couldn't be asthmatic as don't wheeze despite fact am under hospital and have had several admission inc ITU and now on xolair
The GP I am registered with once told me that there is no such thing as asthma, those people who think they have asthma are only over breathing, hence I no longer book my appointments with him
overbreathing!! thats a good one! if only we could breathe, full stop.
x
Well said Snowygirl, it is a bit worrying if a GP can say things like that isn't it.
the same as katharine was told, i never used to wheeze all that much so was told i was a 'fake' asthmatic, was just having a panic attack, despite going blue, cough, tite chest etc... and that i was putting on the cough!
then crash call put out as got more unwell, ended up in itu for 3 days.... of course i am not asthmatic!! despite needing admissions to itu, hdu and ward and too may back and forth trips to costa and needing a wheelbarrow before long for all my meds!!! grrr....
Do doctors all get taught to be deeply cynical and assume everyone is faking it?! Given how common - and variable - asthma is, you think it would be more use actually teaching them about it in depth and the different ways it can present - some still seem to be at the 'asthma is psychological and the wheeze is the child crying for its mother' stage (I believe this was a genuine 1930s 'explanation' for asthma).
Best thing said to me was by previous consultant before discharging me from his list: 'you're overbreathing and have a post-viral cough. You don't have asthma but here, have this inhaler.'
I'm really quite glad I moved, as I won't have to see him again - he was fixated on the idea of it being overbreathing, even though I'd had asthma when I was younger and loads of my family had asthma/eczema (not that he asked about that).
its unbelievable the things said to us, we dont seem to be taken seriously unless we in a more serious situation, which is awful!! they defo need more education in all aspects of asthma and ins variability of presentation as it seems if you aren't a classic case of 'textbook' asthma then you're not asthmatic, so GO AWAY!!
grrr...
rant over!
x x
Also had you're not wheezing, you sound ok...
Got another good one here.
A couple of years ago i was really struggling to breath when attack started real sudden.
I was luckily right near drs surgery. All the receptionists knew me & knew if i walked in holding blue inhaler i was having bad attack & needed nebulizer.
Anyway, i walk in, wheezing like hell, so bad i didnt want to waste breath talking.
The receptionist sees me, alerts doc & buzzed door to let me go straight in.
Two people at desk complained about me going straight in when they were waiting.
Youve gotta love people like that 
Howie
had a green meanie ask me wednesday was i sure i had asthma not just a bad cough?
then when i started crashing in the ambulance on the way to the hospital had to check with ME what doses of nebs i had to have!!
x
One line that I have heard more than once is ""who diagnosed you has asthmatic"", admittedly my usually reply of ""the bloody milk man"" isn't always the most helpful or constructive but why the hell is there a need for so many stupid questions when surely they should be asking the important questions.
I went to see one GP who I try to avoid at all cost now as she always has a go. One particular visit i felt dreadful shortness of breath. Temp etc.she virual so when I asked about work. Her reply well if we all decided to stay of work with a virus we'd have know one working. Horrid. I work with sick babies so I self cert. Was right thing to do as got worse and ended up on antib's and steroids.
Same GP decided I was depressed cause I got upset. Well I felt awful because I was ill. Yes work was stressful at time but it was purely cause i felt so dreadful i was upset and the fact well your not wheezy. I ended up of wrk six weeks. Got started on right treatment when I ended up at out of hours place.
Thing that amuses me is I get told to take asthma and bronchi seriously and not to mess around. And we all face the same old problem with GP'S medics nurses etc. Not taking our condition seriously.
I was once told by a paramedic not to use my reliever medication more that 4 times even though my GP, Resp Consultant say it is the correct thing to do
I remember many years ago lying flat out on the sports field at school gasping for air after being made to run round the track, the PE teacher standing over me and literally screaming at me to get up and do it again, I didn't have the breath to tell her I couldn't. I think that even back then I was suffering with exertion induced asthma as I have never been able to do sports without running out of breath very quickly, getting a tight chest and gasping. Didn't wheeze back then but do now after a really bad chest infection last year, which produced the eventual diagnosis and treatment (I'm in my 40's now). I'll never forget how she humilitated me at the age of about 14 and put me off sport for the rest of my life.
My daughter is the asthmatic in our family. Apart from the ""You're not wheezing therefore you're fine"" scenario we all face I've had NHS Direct recommend that I send her out to garden, with thick snow on the ground and below zero temperatures, for some fresh air during a nasty exascerbation. Me, being a rooky asthma Mum didn't see a problem with this until she came in less than a minute later coughing until she was sick and close to collapse. But my personal favourite is ""Don't let them give her too many steroids."" Why do people say that? Steroids are never given willy-nilly by any doctor I've ever met and if they're what's needed then that's what she gets. We don't take them like sweets!!
Thank you for starting this discussion Jay39. I've found it both highly amusing and informative:~)
Woman in my office, ""Asthmatics dont have side effects or other illnesses, take your inhalor thingy in a morning and your fine!""
I tried to explain (whilst feeling very rough due to yet another course of antibiotics) that i catch infections a lot easier and more common and excercise, dust etc can set it off aswell and she just laughed and said i shouldnt complain!!
Some people are just very ignorant to asthma and think its as simple as a quick puff of an inhalor and your invincible!
its just a chest infection you can do the race for life.
After doing the race for life i couldnt talk or breath. Didnt need a&e i got told then
gemma thats awful!! how unsympathetic,she certainly could do with some manners and some education bout asthma!
a-j , ev en though its an awesome cause, i really hope u dont run the race for life again for a while if that happens :S
went to costa earlier... the doctor said to me, why are you here as your sats are fine?! aaarrggghh!!!
HOW MANY TIMES HAVE I TO TELL THEM I DONT ALWAYS DROP MY SATS, YES LAST TIME I DID, NOT THIS TIME!!!
I got likened to Muttley in class the other day! XD
i am glad i did the race for life just wish i hadnt as well but now not risking it
Walked into the office the other day and someone said 'here comes Darth Vader' so I struck them with my light saber and sat down and had a few puffs of my inhaler
Nice one, JPL - I'd like to be able to do that too, so if you could point me in the direction of the nearest light sabre stockist I'd be dead grateful
Hehe JPL, I've been meaning to acquire a black cloak and lightsabre too. Was thinking perhaps we could measure how good/bad the asthma's been in 'Vaders' - 'today was a 7-Vader day, not so good'.
I mentioned it to a friend and he reckons they ought to put Darth Vader on children's asthma leaflets - 'you too can conquer the galaxy, even with asthma'.
I was told at training by a teammate that I was having a panic attack despite the distinct sound of wheezing. Id been taking ventolin and got shaky and she put me being shaky down to that and overdosing on it. Consdering I was wheezing, couldnt talk as I couldnt catch my breath and had to be carried outside. I did start to panic when my coach began to panic but that was after I began to wheeze. Think she was annoyed cos my coach was in a panic and she had to help me.....
nice understanding teammate you have rainbow
x
By my own mother : are you sure your taking your inhalers - yes mum do u think I want to be like this ??????
By friends: I swear they give all kids inhalers for fun your just the one who played on it ; funny enough I'd give anything not to have asthma and spend fortunes on medication thanks guys !!!
Also from friends : if u don't start running we will miss our train - I reply I can't walk faster let alone run . O grow up and get a move on! - I'd rather be stranded all night than end up in costa thanks for understanding my dear friends
Here have some water - that's really helpfull
Can u be quite I can't hear the tv - take your eyes off the tv and take look at me for a minute no I can't be quiet !!!
Ah u do over exaggerate I had asthma as a kid bout time u grew out of it or stopped pretending - if only it was thAt simple hey !!!
Xx
have u taken your inhaler"" - mother.
""breathe"" - friend
""u have no reason to be hyperventilating"" - paramedic.
""youre not wheezing; its not an asthma attack"" - doctor in a&e ages ago.
Every flipping time a certain friend sees me get out the inhaler. ""It'll be the pollen. Hayfever. Antihistamines. Sort you out."" Then he turns, lights up a fag and always seem surprised when I start backing away. Grr.
On the flip side - I often say to my asthmatic son 'have you taken your ventolin?' when I hear him coughing around the house. I KNOW he probably has but it's an automatic response on my part (I am an asthmatic too!)
After telling my personal tutor at university by e-mail that I was very unwell in hospital from an asthma attack and unable to move from my bed, she replied saying perhaps I should take this opportunity to have 24 hour access to the hospital library. The hospital library was situated 3 floors underneath me and would consist of me walking about half a mile. I couldn't even be bothered to reply and got my consultant to ring her....... the worrying this is that she's a doctor herself and lectures.
I have to say that she has now greatly improved and has turned out to be a good personal tutor after my consultant during a later admission suggested she came to give me some work in person, and she saw that my attacks were a tad more serious than perhaps she'd originally anticipated.
These posts are great! It worries me that care varies so much, but I am happy to know these things are not just said to me!
When the paramed arrived he said calm down it is not an asthma attack. All I wanted to do was to breathe. When I got to A&E he told them that I had Flu symptons. This was four weeks ago and I am still on the neb 4 times a day.
'your cold still giving you bother?' say friends who come into local club, reeking of tobacco after having quick smoke outside. If they take their time, less fumes cling but sometimes they seem to rush it and the fumes are chokingly strong.
Said by Deputy Head Teacher at Secondary School who had been part of my review meeting apparently!
'Will you just calm down and breath deeply, I am fed up with this every time you do the slightest thing! Breathe into this' i had just climbed the South Downs and he made me breathe into? You guessed it, a paper bag! Support teacher then suggests that I now need an ambulance as I was getting tired to which he then told me I was a disappoinment and embarressment to the school!
I was soon after expelled from school because of low attendance for being in hospital and had we realised just how wrong all off this was then would have challenged all of this, but you just think they are right sometimes don't you? Was 14 years ago!
take deep breathes and try and slow your breathing down YOU TRY IT WHEN ITS IMPOSSIBLE TO BREATHE THEN TELL ME WHAT TO DO!!!!
So far people seem to have been relatively understanding about my 'asthma' (or whatever it is) which is lucky - colleagues don't seem to mind that I've been coughing ever since I started this job.
Have had the odd comment though that 'exercise will help'. Yes, maybe long term, not saying I will never be able to exercise but since I currently get breathless walking to the water cooler or getting dressed thinking anything more energetic right now is maybe not the best idea?!
Nicky, that is absolutely shocking re your school - is that even legal?! I wonder if they would have got away with it if you'd eg been in a wheelchair?
No it is not legal but was more focused on health at the time and wasn't even aware that had been registered as permenantly excluded until later. Fortunately I have an attitude that says, I have faired well because I have wonderful parents and I got a good education and am now settling into a career so why be bitter (and also the head and deputy head concerened are no longer in education)
Can see why you wouldn't have fought it - if you were spending that much time away from school it was obviously not good and that kind of thing I imagine is a nightmare to fight (I took my former landlord to county court over our deposit. It was a pretty open and shut case, there were three of us doing it and I was in good health at the time - mind you is still dragging on - but it was still very stressful so I understand not wanting to get involved in a dispute when you're not feeling good.)
Glad it didn't affect things too much for you education-wise. Also that the people concerned are no longer in education, since they clearly shouldn't have been there to start with. I hope they're not doing anything else which might require empathy, common sense and intelligence.
asthma cons to me on thurs - what can we do to keep you out of hosp ? hmmm . . . you tell me your the doc!!!
also - he said - what is it exactly do u want me to do? help me maybe!!
I love the fact that so many of these posts are things said by supposed professionals!! I was taking my class down to the school disco a few months ago and realised that the disco guy was pumping out smoke into the hall like I don't know what so sent my two lovelies with asthma back for their inhalers (normally would just run and get them as they aren't that unsatable) and suggested one lad I used to teach who has moderate asthma in year 4 do the same and was told not to be such a hyperchondriac by the teacher. Made him run when he needed it after 20 minutes of running around like an 8 year old in a smoky hall!
last night after saying i had asthma and was trying to control it with the gps asthma nurse the asked so are you a known asthmatic
no of course not amanda!! you just think you are?! crikeys, where do they get these people from...
x
i know its mad to that nurse i must be taking my inhalers for no reason. All the other nurses belived me. One a really nice male gay nurse was the best in there
during this particular flare up - all from people i work with (kids and staff) or family, who are pretty much used to me by now!
1) ""Miss, you know how you're asthmatic, right, well how are they going to do your hair for the wedding without killing you?""
2) a particularly helpful colleague, ""can i put your darth vader mask on you and play with the buttons?""
3) my head of department, ""will you take your bloody asthma seriously and GO HOME!""
4) the latest green meanie, ""well, jeremykitten, i think it's time you and i experimented with a little something i have in my bag here."" (getting the nebs out, i mean, really!)
5) and my fiance, ""you do know you're wheezing, don't you?
thats a nice wheeze you have there...are you asthmatic? Junior doctor on sunday...allegedly writing up magnesium for me. Lovely nurses had already sorted it out though.
Anaesthetist...I was having a good day until I got the call about you. I was a little upset by this one am considering what to do I think that was totally unnecessary.
A few weeks ago my eight year old niece told her daddy (my brother) do not breathe on Auntie because you have taken aspirin for your headache and she is allergic to it and will not be able to breath.
During a routine medical appointment this week, you don't look like an asthmatic. Not sure what you are supposed to look like if you have asthma!
Asthmagirl, your niece is a treasure to be cherished forever! What a caring little girl - I bet you love her to bits!
Not sure what you are supposed to look like if you have asthma!""
It's usually the horns and the tail that give it away... The tail you can hide down your trousers (watching out for the spiky end) but the horns are much harder to disguise.
Nah Ratty, obviously it's the black mask, cloak and lightsabre!
Though Old Nick might well be asthmatic too - I'm sure all that fire and brimstone down there can't be good for his lungs.
I have a little boy in my class with quite severe special needs and asthma. Today I had one of those stupid sharp tickly throats where everytime you try to speak it makes you cough and suddenly up pipes this voice with, 'Now, Miss C, don't you think it's time to take your inhaler? Poorly lungs aren't any good for anyone remember, you said that!'
Whole class who absolutely adore him fell to pieces along with me.
I was once told that asthma was all a state of miind and I should stop faking illness. That person is no longer my friend.
fat people are often asthmatic !!!
glad i am not the only one who has been told that they are simply breathless because they are fat!! funny how in my youth i was a little on the skinney side and that too was clearly why i spent my teenage years in costa!! Have also been advised that my vegetarian diet clearly is a factor too!! silly me for not realizing meat is a bronchodilator!! chell.xx
I was advised ""to do a bit more dusting and vacuum more. Also maybe take some exercise, get some weight off?"" Explained that thanks, always been around this weight and, pre-asthma, perfectly capable of exercise, thank you very much. Also house dust and cat hair has never bothered me as not allergic to them.
""Just thought would stop it irritating your throat. Stop you coughing all the time."" Grr.
this one was said to my housemate by someone who shall remain nameless...
""erm if she (meaning me) is off the ventilator today does that mean they will be okay for parents evening tommorrow""...my housemate who has lived through some of my more horendous asthma experiences blew her top at this point.
Honey, unbelievable!!
I get the 'maybe you should try some exercise' too. And I'm reasonably sure I'm not overweight (lucky enough not to have had any corticosteroid treatment/issues).
Obviously exercise is the answer when I don't know what is wrong but the smallest thing can make me breathless and I don't even have a reliever to help! Think not really very sensible unless I know what's going on and what I can do, but exercise seems to be regarded as some kind of magic drug even when patently not sensible.
Anyway, am totally and utterly knackered today because I was having printer issues (I hate printers) and kept having to walk back and forth down corridor to printer, then up and down with the stupid paper tray, then to pub round the corner then home. If that's what happens after a bit of extra (slow) walking, I'd hate to try the gym (and I am not looking forward to my treadmill test...).
Edit: anyone else had the 'have a glass of water' when coughing loads?
The glass of water is a regular - makes you wonder why you didnt think of it in the first place haha
My mum had a classic the otherday, I called her and said I was off work because I'd had an attack the night before and been awake most of the night and felt pretty lousy
And she answered ""why didnt you ring me!""
Well mum i thought id use the little bit of breath I could catch for breathing!!!
Sweet thought but we had a bit of a giggle about it!
but you're not wheezy!
Slightly off topic but in the spirit of things said to you..
Friend of mine recently went into Boots for some Nytol. Conversation went as follows -
Woman Behind Counter: 'you're not taking any other medications?'
B: 'just Valerian now and then'
Woman: 'Hm you look a bit herby'
B: 'What?'
Woman: 'You know, some people just look as if they take herbal medicines.'
B: 'What?'
Woman: 'I've validated your receipt should you remember any friends or family who do have an Advantage card.'
B: 'What?'
Hmm, think I'd be pretty annoyed if some random person in a shop said I looked like a 'typical Glastonbury resident' (another way of saying 'you look herby'.) Slightly surreal conversation there...
Another one I get is 'are you sure it's not anxiety/stress?' (I might not have been stressed before but I sure as hell will be if one more person asks me that, including doctors. Yes, I know they have to ask at some point but other people don't.)
To be fair maybe people wouldn't say it if I actually had asthma as opposed to being like someone off a House episode. Or do you people with recognisable asthma get it too? I've had the 'it's just hyperventilation' as well.
things said to me, as an asthmatic.
Very first asthma attack at 21 years old....""you're a highly imaginative young lady"". [doctor]
2 months after being widowed.....""You need a man"". [different doctor]
From a teacher [on a training course]....""Asthma sufferers don't know how to breathe"".
After a bad asthma attack [mail nurse at A&E] ""chew chewing gum. That will help with your dry throat"".....[I couldnt swallow because my mouth was so dry].
Also, after weeks of trying to get my doctor to simply, listen and hear to what I was saying, I started to cry out of frustration only for the doctor to say he knew what was wrong, he gave me a prescription. On asking the Chemist what the medication was for....""Oh for depression and bed wetting"". !!!???
When having an attack theres always somebody who pops up with this one
""Just try to breathe!""
Really - is that what i need to do? lol
would a paper bag help... what am I going to do with a paper bag...
oh no not you again...an A&E doctor who just left me so long that I had to go to ITU - that was ages ago and A&E is now fantastic.
I know your asthmatic you have an asthmatic personality...what does that mean?
I am begining to know you and your asthma on a personal level - what does that mean?
I wish people would stop and think before they speak sometimes
I was given a paper bag as a teenager by my deputy head having just climbed the South Downs. Took my inhaler off me, said I was overdosing. Got an ambulance down!
Have you taken cough mixture? (no, I'm only coughing because I can't breathe, I don't need cough mixture)
After telling boss I wasn't going into work because I'd had an attack and been to A&E at 1.30 that morning - ""But you're all right now though?""
What actually made me think of this thread was something said to me this evening as a teacher so thought I would add that for the other teachers on here -
Friend's wife: SO you're on half term then?
Me: Yes, doing reports.
Friend's wife: That's a bit like flexi-time though isn't it? I'd like to have a bit of work I could just do at home every now and then.... I refrained from explaining that I work 7.30-5.30 every day and work at home every evening and a day at the weekend AND have reports to do in my week off!
absolute classic today at work. not said to me but to a patient by her daughter. mum having nebulizer and coughing quite violently. daughter said. why dont you take that mask off until you have cleared your chest! mmm maybe thats where i have been going wrong all these years!!
'You should see a doctor about that cough' (said by colleagues when I had already been coughing for months and had told them before that yes, I have seen a doctor. In fact I've seen enough to last me a lifetime!)
To be fair they are lovely and pretty understanding now, except when they tell me exercise is good for me.
last year when I got into hospital for and entire week I was freaking out because it was my first time so I text a friend of mine told him I am so scared I am at hospital and they do not tell me what is going on! and his text was hi you are in the hospital? because of the weather? I am having problems with my cellphone´s case. and I was like seriously?! also I have been told that turtles can cure asthma, my teacher from university told me! I do not know how they have discovered the cure, but do not worry my asthmatics fellows because it seems that tourtles are far more intelligent than people and discovered something we could not doing and asthma is here since the 4,000 BC
so all we have to do is kidnap one and ask for the cure
That's a nasty cough you've got there
I've had the paper bag and water ones as we'll
Most recent one to annoy me out with a friend for lunch and we parked and walked over to stairs Nd lifts she says I think we ought to get the lift we don't want u having an asthma attack - don't get me wrong nice she cared but six steps will probably be alright Grrr !!! try worrying about me when your all running for the train and I'm casually walking along miles behind out of breath from just walking lol xx
By one of my teachers whilst at senior school - I had a friend who was asthmatic. Of course she's dead now!. Just what you need to hear when you are struggling.
I was once told I was lucky because I could do what I wanted. Unfortunately at the time I was in hospital attached to an oxygen mask. This was said by another patient who had taken an overdose as she had damaged knee and the surgeons wouldn't operate immediately. This was during the time when I spent more time in hospital than I did at home.
I got that 'you're lucky' bit when sitting around at home with bronchitis. 'must be nice to sit in bed all day and get cuppas brought up to you'. Aye right.
I regularly get the
""whats up with you today - your so miserable, do yo know your so difficult to deal with at times""
from superbitch at work
its partly because im stuggling to breath/suffering chest pains/really exhausted due to another sleepless night
and partly because if I do speak to her im likely to say something I may regret!!
When my asthma is bad and coughing that much and hard get my breath my inlaw says go
get a drink or cough meds.I say its my asthma and hard to breath.
She says you have a cold and laughs and says what has a cough to do with asthma ,just because you have asthma you think every cough is asthma.
Soon put her in her place and gave her a Auk booklet to read to shut her up!!!!!
today in hospital...it might not be that good for you but we are painting the ward today...erm understatement or what! they don't even use low odur paints.
Also my very dappy junior doctor"" So what brought you into hospital today?"" I was in AandE on nebs, O2, magnesium and hydrocortisone...I was tempted to tell her it was my car but bit my lip and answered politely.
Same junior doctor, so these inhalers are for asthma...did you try to use them before you came to the hospital?
Also the same juniour doctor can you try not to wheeze so muchI can hardly hear your answers...
The mecial reg stepped in at that point and took over. I think I was an experience for her.
Of the six doctors that I saw over the weekend the two that were funny came out with some stunners, this is to say that the other four were great:
1. Shouted at three times for the following things - Can you please speak properly I have othe rpeople to see too, then shouted because the 5th of the 6 PFs she made me do before treating me dropped to 150 and then for not breathing deeply enough for her again all prior to nebulisers and hydrocortisone.
2. Well your not on our out patients so why use our A and E, you obviously not well and on a lot of medication that is not doing very much but go and see your own consultant.
EDIT - tense
'Hmm, I've broken my leg but the consultant I usually see is at another hospital somewhere else, guess I will have to wait a few months so he can fix it...'
Slightly worrying that an A&E doctor doesn't seem to have grasped the point of A&E! The other one seems to have anger management issues which is also worrying in an A&E doctor, has she considered pathology? Specimens and dead bodies don't generally mind being yelled at unlike live people having difficulty breathing!
Very well-meaning colleague - have you tried putting something damp in your bedroom? Would steam help?
Since humidity seems to be a big trigger for me - no!
Same person - you sound better now. Well I'm glad about that but I still can't breathe!
Why do people have to try to do something to fix it or say something positive about it?
Why when I'm telling someone I need to try and make a doctor's appointment because my asthma's still not great can they not just be sympathetic or ask if there's anything they can do to help, rather than try to give advice when they don't know anything about it?
while coughing up a lung puddle jumping with the 2yo today....
Pat Mummy on the back. Go on, poor Mummy.
serves me right for puddle jumping. oh and patting me on the back just annoys me!
My mum is normally very good and understanding, which makes sense since she grew up dealing with her brother's asthma.
However, the other day my brother was proposing to spend all day going up some mountains, on his own as he didn't think the rest of us wanted to go (we are on holiday in Italy this week) and she thought we could all go, then didn't seem to understand why I was so much against the idea of spending all day trekking up to high altitudes... Lol, was quite funny really, especially given how much time she spends waiting for me at my current snail pace.
Towards the end of a 3 week admission earlier this year, the respiratory SHO (henceforth known as SH(*t)O stated that the main reason that I wasn't able to go home was because I had become institutionalised. Given that he hadn't met me before, this surprised me somewhat. I suggested that it might be more to do with the fact that my peak flow was still significantly below that agreed as a discharge goal, I was still using the nebuliser a lot more frequently than allowed for discharge, had been off IV aminophylline less than 24 hours, and my sats were dropping into the 80s every time I came off the oxygen. His response to this was to ask if I thought that I might be depressed.
On being taken in to A and E last night was told the following by either nurse practitionor or doctor:
1. It isn't an allergic reaction, you don't have a rash, it's just asthma (since when does asthma cause your neck to swell, your eyes and nose to pour and puf and go red.
2. your not that wheezy anymore (that is because you have left me here for 30 minutes with an audible wheeze so I have been chugging my inhaler)
3. your bloods are fine, but then they would be on all those drugs so that doesn't really say much.
4. when I said I hadn't felt this unwell after treatment in a long time was asked well what do you want me to do about it.
5. you should consider yourself lucky, a lot of brittle asthmatics don't respond so well to ventolin and atrovent as you do and go into status asthmaticus.
6. you can go now - but I am still SoB and not better, just take your inhaler there is nothing more I can do. Took about 20 puffs plus to get from there to car and four nebs over night.
Asthma nurse not overly impressed!! Waiting to see if I can be admitted today.
Grrrrrrrrr!!!
your resps are highly, struggling to breathe and your tight but ur not wheezzy so we wont give u a neb????
hmmm... then i develop silent chest!!
also got told been in long enough, peak flows are better etc.. will do better at home etc... and we need your bed!! 2 days later readmitted to diff hospital closer to home...
Snowygirl,
Are we somehow seeing the same special people?
Forgot to add that as I presented at the desk of AnE and said was having an allergic reaction and asthma was bad in partial sentences was asked to see my GP in the morning.
NIckynoo and Snowygirl, I would almost hope you are seeing the same people (though I don't think you live in same place so unlikely) - but at least it would mean there are fewer of them!
A much less serious situation of course but being relatively naive about what some doctors can be like am still amazed at the OOH one last weekend who decided without looking at my notes, asking about my history or anything that I was hyperventilating and having anxiety issues and told me to breathe into a paper bag. Which would be fine if I could be absolutely sure I was hyperventilating, but seems rather dangerous for someone with unexplained breathing difficulties - not that he would know, since he didn't bother to ask! Guess I could have told him but at that point didn't seem worth it and it wasn't what I was there for anyway.
Re the exercise thing - my colleagues seem to like encouraging me to exercise (now am paranoid they think I'm fat - or maybe just lazy? ;)) They are nice and mean well but getting a little fed up of saying 'yes, I'm sure exercise would in general be good for me and quite possibly my breathing in the long run but I am not going to a salsa class when I get breathless turning over in bed.'
Thought you said it was a cold. Who gave you the bronchitis then?
as said by nurse in a&e on wednesday night. You just had a small chest infection its not asthma.
I wear a medic alert and take inhalers for my asthma
Whilst squirting cleaning products all over right by me I start coughing and wheezing ""ooops I forgo you had that asthma "" I would of laughed if I could !
Picking OH and pal up tonight. Pal says 'You've stopped coughing. Over your cold, then?'
I just nodded rather than shout 'Thanks for asking and thanks for smoking just before getting into the front seat beside me. Oh and Cloth Ears! I've still got an audible wheeze. So loud, it stops me listening to the mp3s I use to sleep at night.'
Sorry, gone on a bit of a rant. I'll just get me coat...
nickynoo and philomela
hope we are seeing same 'special' people or there are alot more idiots out there than we'd like lol
x
Friends (non-asthma) asked if bronchitis away yet and I said 'not really, its still hanging on. Chest feels really tight.' About an hour later, they pointed to my glass of diet coke and said, in all seriousness, ""Feel better now?""
If only it were that simple. :/
GrannyMo, why haven't our doctors told us that diet Coke is a cure for asthma and chest infections? It's all a giant NHS conspiracy!
Actually I hate Coke but if it worked...Last time I had some I was being forced to by a cardiac registrar; can't say it did much for my dizziness either. Sigh. Another 'miracle cure' fails to live up to expectations.
Hope your bronchitis does go soon though, Coke or no Coke.
diet coke sets me off...no cure for me.
and me! and wine and squash. Try to ignore the wine one though as my body will just have to learn that this wrong!!!
Wine hates me. Not my lungs, just in general. Also other alcohol - very annoying. Spent years trying to find one which doesn't fast-track me to hangover with half a glass, but no luck. Could be worse effects I guess...
ive had some odd things said to me about my asthma over the years...""
So true!
“Yer alright luv u can go home ...""
... when shown my peak flow had improved to 180 during the early hours of a verrry busy Sunday morning in a biggish city A and E after watching a couple of drunks come in semi comatose and needing their delicate stomachs pumped.
I think I might have felt the same when silently observing them but was unable to speak because of a lack of alcohol and oxygen.
Best statements i had to me so far, al of which in a and e:
""u have asthma, deal with it""
""for some1 having such a sever attack, and have such a shockin a
blood gas, u r surprisingly calm!""
""u dont have any air gettin to ur lower lungs, how u feelin?""
And on a funny note bcoz the nurses know me so well, and coz more often than nt il drive myself to hosp:
""if u got an ambulance, it would give the paramedics something real todo rather than pickin up the drunks""
O and ive had 3 nurses slap me (in a friendly way) coz ive driven myself, they also lecture me sayin if i get an ambo then i culd have had my treatment sorted half hour ago!
I no this is true, but i guess us asthmatics r stubborn and like to deal with stuff 1st hand 1 lol
said to me a couple of days ago 'oh my daughter had asthma but grew out of it-odd you havent' -thing is i didnt have asthma as a child and was only diagnosed a few years ago.
do you think you can walk round to xray??
hmmm.. seeing as i am on nebs and a cardiac monitor and iv meds, in resus unable to breathe.... yes!!!
mobile xray it was
x
Short of porters were they?!
I hope this was from before and not today.
a nice thing
One of my favourite doctors in A and E said to me once whilst I was having a hissy fit about not be going to work because of my asthma which was very unstable at the time "" I am sure we have a a spare ventilator...so which 5 year old do you want me train to use it?"" I think he had the better of me at that point.
He has been in my local A and E since I was 15...has seeen some of my worst attacks has ventilated me more than once and has the confidence to tell me exactly what he thinks. I also know if he is working when I get there the treatment will go well, we will avoid blood gasses unless absolutely necessary and then also he will use local anaesthetic...he will refer me to ITU even when others will try not to as he knows I can go off on one really quickly and he will also hold my hand when I am scared. Why can't all doctors treat me like this?
Aww, Honey, that is nice to hear - good to have some balance sometimes. My A&E has such a regular change of staff I hardly ever see the same doc twice despite being a 'frequent flyer'. It is nice when you're recognised (in a 'good' way) and feel more secure in the treatment you're getting - makes you feel like a person rather than just another patient they're working through.
I dunno Snowygirl, you really should have made more effort to get yourself to X-Ray - next time ask for a few pairs of roller-skates and attach yourself + equipment for a quick spin round the corridors.
Good to hear Honey - he sounds like a real sweetheart.
Mine is when I had a nasty attack at work last year (I am a nurse) and I had someone rubbing my back (aaarrgghhh I HATE being touched when I can't breathe!) and whilst waiting for the ambulance she said - Your pulse is very fast, I think you ought to stop taking ventolin........right........cos this is the only thing helping me breathe at all! Lol - bless her - she meant well!
ratty i think i should try that next time - roller skates from resus to xray please see how that aids my breathing!!
can u breathe normally thru ur mouth for me please, not thru ur nose!
hmm.. i was breathing thru my mouth i was wheezy only i dont normally always wheeze :S grrr...
Last week my in- laws came round and my father-in-law with COPD and still smokes, came in from the garden where he'd had a cigarette stank strongly of smoke which set off my already grumpy lungs. My husband saw me struggling to breath and quickly put me on the neb when my father-in-law turned round and said, "" you need to give up smoking"" and laughed. When I saw the Respiratory Nurse on Monday I told her and she was appaulled, he's also under her care. I' m beginning to despise the old bas***d even more, this is typical of his attitude towards asthma.
he is great...I am so lucky have been thinking about this... in A and E there are two doctors both now consultants that have been there for 15 years plus. I suppose I am very lucky that my local hospital is part of a big trust on the south coast so some people stay and stay and stay. It suits their lifestyles! One of the A and E consultants was when I was 17 an SHO in ITU and has worked his way through the ranks in the hospital trust. He now runs both the large A and E's in both my local and the other hospital. I remember him from them and he seemed to have remembered me! I was a pretty naughty 17 year old!
My GP also used to work in my local A and E and was one of the doctors who helped me out with my first very serious asthma attack. I have moved away from this area once but moved home...the hospital and my doctor would be huge factors in my decision not to move away again. On the other hand...my consultant well he is a different story he is alwaya away! The lastest locum was very odd apparently thinking about the colour orange can help!
hmmm, colour orange? Right, will have to try that...nope, not helping yet...
Snowygirl, thought you were supposed to breathe 'normally' through nose not mouth! Though I usually get asked to breathe through mouth when someone is listening to my chest (guessing that was situation with you?) - and find it quite hard as I don't breathe through my mouth normally however much they suspect I do and start with the 'hyperventilation' thing! Usually find it a bit hard to do what they want esp if breathing not so happy, tend to start getting it wrong or breathing more 'naturally'/not deeply enough, then get told off.
Everyones in bed loud barking/coughing type noise can be heard mum comes rushing in are u ok what's happening where's your inhaler then turns the lights on ! Me completely confused my sister calls mum that was such and suchs dog !! Bless her got all worried and It wasn't even me quite funny had to share it with u all !! X
indeed philomela, he was listening to my chest...
oh dont get me started on the whole hyperventilation thing!! i am sick of hearing that.. how many times do i need to show them the proof that i do not!
*sigh*
roll on brompton to sort me out 
x x x
What, you too - seriously, hyperventilation is supposed to be landing you in Costa that often is it?!
That makes no sense, it annoys me when they do it with me but I could kind of see why even though I wish they wouldn't and I don't think it is that!
def roll on RBH for you, read your other post. Your asthma bad enough to deal with without putting up with annoying drs. xxx
Do you not find they make you hyperventilate when listening to your chezt because they don't want to wait inbetween breaths to listen so keep telling you to breath in and out and in and out. I am often glad I am sat down!
Physio actually saw the reality when they were called a few months ago to then report to consultant and nurse and told them they were right it was useful to come see me, could she borrow me to show people hoe to breathe properly! Did try to tell them that I was a figure skater and play the flute. Just because I can not physically breath through my nose does not mean I breath badly.
Yes! Find it really hard and unnatural to do, and is probably the time my breathing technique is the worst - how ironic given they are convinced I don't breathe properly even though like you I try to tell them I play(ed) the oboe and sing (to be fair my lung function test technique is for some reason appalling, not sure why).
Only time I haven't felt uncomfortable and contorted when someone's listening is when the chest physio did which isn't that surprising. She was a lot better at it than any of the doctors, took her time (well, she had to, I kept coughing every time I breathed too deeply) and said I should practise the breathing exercises she'd just shown me, but didn't try to make me do anything awkward.
Pity the exercises didn't work - am wondering if chest physio could do anything to help now.
I too have been fed up with hyperventilation theory after over 20 years of it!! Actually did the hyperventilation provocation test this January just gone and it finally proved it is not hyperventilation that is causing my SOB. What a relief!! I knew it wasn't but was fed up with saying it. I think everyone diagnosed with asthma should be referred to a physio for correct breathing though to help us maintain it when SOB, what do others think?
Jac
I want that test! Actually I want anything they can throw at me at this point.
Agree re the chest physio, felt she really took her time, went through everything and listened to me, much better than the consultant in fact... Would like to see one again if they could help and with the understanding that it's an add-on and not a substitute for medication.
The GP I saw when I was diagnosed with asthma aged 7 told my mum at the time that really I should have biofeedback, she said it was very good for helping asthmatics breathe properly.
'Now breathe normally.'
What? How do i do that? I thought I was breathing how do I breathe with the asthma playing up. Oh for the days when I breathe without realising it.
Gill
One Really Really nice doctor said to me.. 'Oh Chloe Darling, even the air will make YOU wheeze!'
lol - this was my reply when i asked what was making my breathing worse (i was only 12)
I was having an attack and had already been in HDU for 5 days...was on another lot of back to back nebs...had one of those great new baby doctos (who had got a job in ITU) review me as I was at that stupid stage of about to be moved up there when he siad to both me and my mum...
with all due respect...I dont think your daughter has asthma at all...I think she has something wrong with her larynx so decided to shove a camera up my nose and down the back of my throat...and o...my larynx was perfect, not a fault wrong with it!!!
classic is i have had astham since i was 3 months old and im now nearly 21...so is he saying that for nearly 20 years of my life all my GPS/asthma nurses/chest physician none of them know their jobs?!?!
Im really worried about the patients being under his care in ITU!!!
Someone asked me today what is it like to be asthmatic and experience asthma attacks, after my explanation they responded to me by saying it is the same as carrying two children one at the front and the other on your back the weight that you a have then they walked away before I could say anything.
Yes, I know that I have put a lot of weight on recently but that is not through over eating, it is the long term prednisolone that I am on.
That comment they said really hurt my feelings and upset me
Despite the fact they knew I'd collapsed in the house and had to visit Out of Hours less than a week ago, friend inquired if I was not over my cold yet.
What a relevant thread for my latest anguish
After a month on montelukast experienced improved symptoms came of it got almost straight back to coughing
Mum: you really need to grow up stop pretending and sort that cough out
Me: yeah when drs reopens Tuesday I'll call for an appointment
Mum: that's no what I ment
Me: well it's clear I need to go back on the montelukast
Mum: you will not I don't want you being on lots of steroids long term your only young and your weight doesn't need increasing
Me: there not steroids there anti leuketrines
Mum: besides the point your not going back on them
I of course will be phoning tomorrow resuming my plan of action I'm far old enough to deal with it on my own I've been doing appointments for years and years alone
Anyone Ny ideas how to explain difference I pred and montelukast to mum ?
Fustrated x
lin tinx
I do sympathise with you here. My mother used to get very annoyed with me if I ever said I was ill and always said I was 'making a lot of fuss about nothing'. She's not alone, though. Many people have a similar view of asthma, possibly because there's nothing visible - if you were wearing a plaster cast or using a walking stick they might be more inclined to believe in the seriousness of the condition.
I stopped discussing my asthma with my mum because she woulldn't listen to anything I said and I got tired of trying to educate her (it was probably the dementia that made her so difficullt). But, I didn't live in the same house with her so my problem wasn't as difficult as yours. If you thought your Mum would listen to your GP it might be worth asking her to go with you so she could learn more about how your asthma affects you, what medication you have and why it is prescribed. Or she might be prepared to look at the 'all about asthma' section here. If neither of those options appeals to her then perhaps you need to ask her to agree not give you a hard time about your medication until she understands why you use it.
Good luck
While in costa the registrar on the the respiratory ward actually said to me ""You know more about asthma than me, what do you think we should do next?""
Hardly filled me with confidence!
Someone told me not so long ago that my asthma is ruining their life because of all the worrying and anxiety it brings for them.
I thought that they should try living with asthma..
ok I have the opposite problem
my mums first words on the phone were not hi but have you taken your inhaler?
I had a lecture from the mum of one of my pupils just before christmas when i was suffering ""Are you looking after yourself? Are you taking your meds? Are you checking your peak flow? Take a couple of days off to get better!""
All this while the poor pupil is like ""muuuum i want my lesson!"" LOL
lol jinglfairy, was she a nurse/dr or just very maternal with experience of asthma?
Asthmagirl, that is shocking! OK maybe it is stressful having an asthmatic friend/relative but not as bad as having it and you definitely shouldn't say something like that to the person with asthma! Are you meant to feel guilty or something?!
tyber28, my mum gets like that. Only with me it tends to be 'do you have the heating on? Are you keeping warm?' A while ago I thought I'd got her to promise not to nag me about my chest all winter but I guess mums are mums. And the whole 'referred for third time' thing doesn't really help with warding off the nagging.
hope things improve
lol, i have the same problem with my parents, especially my mum. every phone call starts with: have you taken your meds? what was your last pf? what was your blood sugar? etc etc... its really annoying. im 22, and not gonna forget meds or pf or glucose just cuz my mum hasnt reminded me that day...!!!
lol, i have the same problem with my parents, especially my mum. every phone call starts with: have you taken your meds? what was your last pf? what was your blood sugar? etc etc... its really annoying. im 22, and not gonna forget meds or pf or glucose just cuz my mum hasnt reminded me that day...!!!
Me: neb please
student nurse: yes course
student nurses arrives back(with qualified nurse)
student sets up neb, qualified 'wow hello miss squeek, you seem to have eaten my patient. Can we have her back please?'
Me: chuckle...tells nurse thats great but making me cough wont ship him away...thanks though
chuckle all round, some nurses are just lush now arnt they and if i was a student with a qualified like that as a mentor i would be happy!!
Xx
A&E Dr said to me today 'seretide isnt really good for asthma'......ummmmmm REALLY?!?! Pol
Lol not pol!
sister in law to be: awww so sorry your asthma is not good, its b*ll that work cant sort things out, you sound like a frog!
Angelica: so what is it meant to be good for then?! Pretty colour? I've never had it but am guessing it doesn't taste great...handbag accessory maybe? Did they have any suggestions about what would be good?
spiritedstream: hmm, just what you want to hear! Hope you sound less like one soon.
My latest is current cons: 'So Prof X [my 1st cons] said you had dysfunctional breathing. Do you know what that means?'
Me: starts babbling about oxygen and CO2 etc
Prof Y: It means he thinks you're mad.
lolol! Actually my second cons clearly thought the same - probably because the first one said so - would seem it's hard to get rid of the label so glad that I have.
Philomela, I dont honestly think the A&E Dr had a clue bless him! He told me to come off the seretide and only have the singlair (which 3 weeks in appears to be making no difference so far but I know it can take a while to kick in) and my salbutamol. That's it!!!
Erm.....maybe I should just ignore him I think!!!! Lol
P.s.philomela, some cons have preconceived ideas which means they label people or don't consider certain treatments and issues and therefore just won't listen to you. I'm glad you've now got better cons!!!
Angelica - yep it sounds like your A&E doc didn't have much of a clue! I was on just Singulair for a bit bur a) I wasn't as severe and b) it was only because they'd tried the steroid/LABA combos and they didn't work - it was more of an experiment to see if I even had asthma at all!
I have a super-cons now lol which is good - and he said the previous one was not great at communication, tended not to listen and so he wasn't surprised that I hadn't got very far with him and been labelled 'mad'/dysfunctional breather.
Hope the Singulair does start to kick in for you soon - it's great if it works for you.
Nurse in A&E last night came over and asked me if I was having difficulty breathing......i couldn't answer because a) I was having a severe attack, lots if wheezing & odd walrus noises coming from my chest/throat and b) I was gobsmacked at her utter utter stupidity!!!!
Didnt know where to put but it made me chuckle...
Im desperate for chocolate so notice the nurse was letting the two other asthmatics next to me go for walks even on their own...so i asked her if i could go for a walk post my nebs....her response...
...With air entry as shocking as yours and peak flows like that and your history were risking letting you walk to the toilet, you dont have a chance of going of the ward....
How harsh...all i want is chocolate or sweets. .. I WANT SUGAR GOODNESS!!!
XX
lol charlie, i had the same my last admission ... all i wanted was to go to the vending machine literally outside the ward.
apparently hourly obs and iv amino means you cant leave the ward!
thankfully i pursuaded a hca to go and get me some chocolate supplies!
B x
I just tried pushing my luck again...my sis is bringing me in sugary goodness but hasnt got time to park and run as she gotta collect kids so i asked the nurse if i could walk to reception to collect it (im on level two) she said she will think and talk with the docs...
...Five minutes later urm no char your not going down to reception, uve not got better since this am and if anything your worse so not a chance are you leaving the ward...
...Me but i need sugary goodness (bribe coming) you can come.with me and share the sugary goodness and be the best nurse ever...nurse goes and looks at obs chart...erm no char, nice try but still not happening!!
Ffffuuudddggggeee a duck!! These nurse and docs no me far to well...i have set up a reputation!! Ah well!!
My persuasion for having a gp appointment tomorrow didnt allow me to escape today either. .. Darn lungs!!
Ahh well!!
Xx
lol Charlie, trying to bribe the nurses, shocking! They do know you too well, you'll never get time off for good behaviour at this rate.
Hope you get your sugary goodness soon.
Lol worth a shot...nurses said i was funny so that put a smile on my face knowing i could still be my self whilst being a puffa fish also...
And my sister arrive with £12 or choc...yes TWELVE pounds worth...i definatly got sugary godness!! Aparently the lady at the check out gave her a right filthy look
xx
Hi Charlie Warlie,
I'm so pleased you got your choccy
Just remember not to eat it all at once or you'll be feeling very sickly!!!!
Nope wont eat at once...will savour every last bite to make it last...
On another note, i just got told i look like ET by my nurse lol...because i have my hood up and blacket wrapped around me...not sure whether i prefer refugee or ET...my nurse said she meant it in a nice way...trying to figure that out though as whats nice about ET lol
xx
Wow! That's a lot of sugary goodness, you'll be bouncing off the walls!! Lol
Enjoy, ummmmm chocolate........i feel an early morning raid coming on
I've got asthma too and it doesn't give me problems like that"" (said by my former boss).
I don't understand why you won't go into the steam room. My friend XXX has asthma too and she uses it.
Well, bully for XXX!
A while ago a friend said ""Don't you ever get fed up with going to see the doctor so often?"" Nothing to say really!!!! Well nothing I can post here without getting into serious trouble.
Just got told by the nurse i sound like a firework rocket going off when i do my peak flow because of the wheeze i have when i do it lol new one on me!!!
Xx
Can't remember if I've said before about being told imagine you're blowing a malteser across the room when doing a peak flow.
Got told last night by OOH doctor that my lungs are crackling so much that it sounds as though they are eating a Ryvita Crispbread
You'll make yourself I'll if you keep taking that!
I have developed chest infection first one in 7mths, funny really really as I have just gone back to work after two months off just to other circumstances. Anyway felt bit rubbish on Friday when I got home after shift so started emergency antib's, increased inhaler intake due to coughing more than usual, my husband returned home in the evening, I was coughing, including the horrible noise we make when the airways clash so took my inhaler smart system, he said 'you'll make yourself I'll if you keep taking that!'
my reply was I can have up to 12 doses, no where near that. I hadn't even had ventolin. His concern, this is the first time he has really seen me ill since got married last September. But it then took him til 9pm the next day to text me to see how I was feeling, I'd gone to work for a long day. Was tempted to say I'm fine down in A&E, but resisted!
Great one from a junior doc today:
Doc: Do you take any exercise?
Me: When my asthma's okay, yes I swim quite a bit and a cycle.
Doc: Well they're no good. You need to be doing weight-bearing exercise. You should go running.
Ha ha ha - I do hope he's going to give me a season ticket for A&E with my running shoes! 
(BTW, I'm not saying asthmatics can't run - but I know my lungs wouldn't tolerate it)
i used to be like that ratty but i was determined i was going to run so i went through the rigours of forcing my body to get used to it and now i can do 10k runs. it did take a LONG time though, i think my first 5k was about 2 years after my first run.
Like you, i'm not saying its the case for all asthmatics but that was my goal and i cracked it. The very first time i went running i did 2.5 miles and did walk 5 minutes run 1 minute and suffered for about 4 days after
Oh yes i'm really sensible LOL
are you sure you took that thing correctly"" you shouldn't be still coughing. I've seen people with asthma on tv, they get better right away.
A&E Dr 'I dont want to mess about with your medication when your chest is this bad.' same Dr 'It was only a mild attack noting to worry about.' My PF went from 550 to 90 and oxygen stas were 90%
'At least it not a life threatning illness.' My employer after I had been in hospital multiple times in 3 months on oxygen & back to back nebs.
'Do you smoke?' 'No Ive never smoked.' 'Are you sure youve never smoked?' 'Yes im very sure!'
Glad it worked for you Jinglfairy - I have tried and it nearly killed me - they even decided against the treadmill for my exercise stress test, still had a nice attack for them after the exercise bike - oops. I would love to be able to run - not just for the train/bus - but because it's an exercise I would actually like to do. My sister's training for the marathon next year and I'd love to join her on foot rather than bike!
nurse ""ooo, your lungs sound really bad""
""well, yes, ...that's why ...I'm here
hehe I had that from an annoying lung function tech once.
'You take too much reliever - it's not sugar you know, it's a drug.'
'Yes I know but I take it a lot because I get breathless a lot.'
'Well you should ask your doctor about that.'
Ummmm what do you think I am doing in a hospital respiratory clinic?!
This just reminded me of what my husband says, being a convert to knowing about asthma since mine got worse last year.
He says he always used to think of asthma as someone gasping for breath and getting hysterical, but now he realises that there can be different symptoms and they don't mean there isn't something wrong. I certainly scared the life out of him the first time I ever had an attack, as I went white and couldn't talk and he didn't know what was happening!
I've just educated some people at my new job about how asthma can affect you as well, as they were very kindly trying to tell me what might be wrong with me when I knew full well it was my asthma playing up.
hehe Philomela, some health professionals come out with some corkers.
And talking about educating colleagues about asthma, the other day one said to me after he and i had both been coughing ""oh yes, I also caught that cough and cold off sarah that she had last week"" ""no, mine's asthma
oh yes, being mainly a cougher myself i often find i have to explain i'm not contagious - you won't catch anything from being near me when i'm coughing *sigh*
Yes my colleague was convinced I had a chest infection on Tuesday, and I had to explain that probably by the afternoon the cough would be gone, because it's just an asthma cough and I don't have any symptoms of an infection. They do mean well though. I nearly managed to get to the end of the year without anyone realising I was an asthmatic!
wow, thats good going!!!
One week when i was suffering a lot (probably shouldn't have been in work but i was) about 5 people all in different places asked me am i asthmatic - no hiding it that week!!!
Probably sounds better than it really is jinglfairy, I've only been there since Easter. I've told one colleague before because we work quite closely together but don't think anyone else knew until this week.
I have noone to hide it from anymore, i work at several different places, some with large staff teams, go to yoga and hockey and they all know. even the staff at the post office know, and i hardly ever go there. *sigh*
I used to have all sorts of people saying 'ooh do you have asthma?' when I had coughing fits. Made me crack up and still does given the doctors took so long to get there but random people I hardly knew got it right!
Other than that...hmm, can't remember who else knows. I have been known to shock friends who haven't seen me for a while... The pharmacists now spot me from a mile away as I come up the stairs - last time I literally didn't say anything at all, just approached the counter puffing and the pharmacist who was whizzing around doing several prescriptions called out 'I'll have yours ready in a minute Ms A'.
They have the pharmacy upstairs!?! Are they deliberately trying to be cruel? Know what you mean about being recognised by the pharmacist tho. Except yesterday I went to my pharmacy where they had a new pharmacist, he said ""did the doctor explain how to take these tablets?"" ""he doesn't need to, I'm already familiar with how to take them"" he gave me a nod and a look of ""well, I'll be seeing you again then
When I went to the GP surgery last week the doctor who I was seeing came into the waiting room where I was and said come on in wheezer I can hear you wheezing from my surgery room, fortunately I was the only one in the waiting room at the time.
This doctor does know me and what my asthma can be like.
hahaha asthmagirl that did make me chuckle (but thats not the best thing for me to do right now LOL)
Good job he knows you and you were alone, hopefully had there been other patients there he would've put his professional head on
Upstairs pharmacy, not ideal & hehe, well said lou.
Asthmagirl, perhaps not the most professional approach from your GP saying that in the waiting room but did make me laugh too.
i rarely have anyone say is that asthma, usually like last night, 'ooh that's a nasty cough, have you got a virus/cold...' then they look rather confused when I say no, if only it was over that quickly.
Philomela, have the same with psychic pharmacists and assistants
hehe yes it is a bit evil but to be fair there is an escalator! It's not their fault that my several years of living in London with no or only mild asthma conditioned me to want to move up and down escalators as quickly as humanly possible lol - I still do it on the Tube when I can then wonder why I'm really SOB later...
I'm moving soon (have seen a really good place so crossing fingers we get it and the people who viewed after us haven't jumped in) and am contemplating whether to stay with the big central Boots pharmacy or to induct a new lot in the slightly more local one. At least it would make me feel less decrepit for a while, but they'd soon get used to me and I don't really want to have to explain why I'm on Atrovent but not Ventolin to more than one set of pharmacists (trying this till next time I see cons in October).
Asthmagirl, that made me laugh too - my GP has never said that but it's pretty obvious to everyone in the waiting room that he knows me as he always looks around, sees me and says 'oh hi, come on in'.
hahaha i had that philomela but not for asthma
3 years ago i had an abscess in my armpit that needed operating on to remove it. Afterwards followed 12 weeks of aftercare - 6 weeks of every single day at the walk-in centre then another 6 weeks of every 2-3 days. It didn't take long for the 3-4 regular nurses to get to know me and very similar they'd just say hi to me
I did have a very funny experience there once. One saturday it was particularly quiet, practically no-one in the waiting room. I'd been talking to the nurses and it came out in conversation i was a woodwind teacher. The nurse asked me did i have my instruments with me (my clarinet was in the car, not my favourite instrument), she asked me would i play for them so after i'd had my wound packed and dressed i was playing 'titanic' on the clarinet in the treatment room hahahahahahaha Unsurprisingly i was even more well known after that!!!!!!
The last time I was admitted to my local hospital the consultant came to see me during his ward round and said to me continue to do what you are doing and keep suffering.
such a caring and understanding consultant. poor you asthmagirl
this gave me a good giggle whilst sitting in a&e last night, fuming that the paramedic said the moment she walked in the door she said ""doesnt sound like your having an asthma attack, your not wheezing"", and then proceeded telling me to breath in slowly and deeply and gently breathe it out, stop panicking and messing about and that i was ""only having a panic attack"".
she soon realised i was serious when my SpO2 dropped to 80%, i went grey/blue and she then hop footed it to a&e with the blue lights.
Turns out she was in a bad mood as she should have finished her shift 2 hours before, and was a good 1hr 1/2 drive out of her area, and just happened to be driving past mine as the call came.
I now totally see why they are known as the Greenie Meenies !!
Sitting at the back of a very airless bus in Croatia, temperature about 38 degrees and kind of ok, when someone gets on with very heavy perfume and sits next to me. I immediately jump up saying I've got to get off when my friend grabs my arm and pulls me back into my seat saying 'it's only about 5 minutes, you'll be ok' by which time the bus had started moving and I was trapped. 5 minutes can be a REALLY long time!
you're a 'coffin dodger'...
On a recent visit to A&E the doctor that was treating me said we can't do anything about changing your medication because your asthma is being controlled by God (they were referring to my Respiratory Team at the Royal Brompton Hospital).
When I went to my local hospital A & E recently a doctor told me that they can not do anything ele for me there.
Just wondering where I go from here:-
1) GP has now run out of ideas' as to how to sort my asthma.
2) Local Hospital A&E can not treat me there because they can not do anymore than what I am doing at home with my nebuliser and back to back nebs.
I just feel as though medical people have given up where my asthma is concerned.
Sitting in the hospital library coughing consultant walks round the corner; thought it was your cough, next one of the reg's comes round the corner; thought it was your cough, do you want a bed? Reason why I don't revise in the hospital library!!
Asthma girl: why can your local a and e not do more for you than give you back to back nebs?
Hi Ally18,
Some of the doctors' at my local hospital A & E seem to think that if you have a home nebuliser then you should stay at home and keep using it until your symptoms ease and not to go to A & E. I went there because my Respiratory team told me I have to.
Asthmagirl what the A&E staff said is aload of rubbish!!! There are sometimes when your symptoms are so bad even back to back nebs don't work when I'm bad enough to need hospital treatment back to back nebs on their own do not work! My PCT do not give home nebs for asthmatics anymore because they say that its too dangerous because we tend to put off seeing medical help when we really need it. Reading this post its the medical professionals who need a refresher too.
I hope things get sorted soon I know how miserable it is when your going through what feels like a never ending bad patch.
Hi asthmagirl,
I'm so shocked by what your a&e have said to you!
Same as sarz, my pct won't give home nebs for the same reason.
When you go to a&e do they ever give you magnesium sulphate?
There is lots more they can do in a&e and I can't say enough that if you are struggling you 100% should go in!!!
X
In the past my local hospital A&E have given me magnesium sulphate, steroids to breathe via nebuliser so could not understand why they were being difficult the last time I was there.
I have spoken to my respiratory team who told me to get myself to A&E when I know that symptoms are getting worse and that my nebuliser is only helping me for 2 hours or so.
Really can't understand what they said then tbh!
:-S
Just a thought Asthmagirl on your recent A&E visit, was it at the beginning of August when many doctors changeover and new ones start? Sounds like you need a letter/action plan ... for A&E to follow, if your local consultant isn't the most helpful perhaps ask the Brompton when you get there?
Ally18, that's sounds rather erm interesting at times, not surprised you say that re the hospital library then.
Hi TJ,
Yes it was the begining of August when I was in A&E, I had forgotten about the new doctors' until you mentioned it, makes sense now. My Respiratory team at RBH are looking to admit me in the near future for a 10 day stay so that they can sort out my asthma and come up with a better action plan for me.
When you paint your finger nails, could you leave one without nail varnish please for the oxygen sats monitor?"" - said to me by resus consultant on Thursday!!
I had to laugh
hahaha thats a great one Angelica
How has it taken me this long to find this thread?!
Since I was only diagnosed in April, I've had a two few appts this year in comparison yo my usual none. This made my friends concerned so I thought I ought to explain to them what's going on. I got an incredibly surprised look when I told one friend and his response was ""why would you tell us all you have an STD?!"" he was never good at biology, bless him! Turned as red as a tomato when I explained what asthma is! Can't figure out what he was confusing it with though! Any ideas?
Haha angelica you could start a whole new fashion!
Ooooh Rachel, that is really quite special!!!!
Did you laugh?!?! I would have wet myself laughing I think
Keep them coming folks!!!
Haha yeah we all laughed for about half an hour. Got incredibly strange looks from the people around us! We now take every opportunity to remind him of it it was just the way he said it so seriously, as though he knew he was right! Panicked my boyfriend for a bit!
It took me a while to explain what asthma is to my friends!
On call doc last saturday wen having an allergic reaction says ...
(He had read my notes on the system) ""why isnt your asthma controlled, with everthing your on, that enough to manage a small community with asthma"" -erm good question, now back to the reason im here please
Newbie pharmacy -clearly had just qualified as was a little special- ""can i ask, do you really need all these medications for your asthma, would you like to cone into my consultation room and we see if you actually need them"" - my response""im under two consultabts who see tothink i need them and wouldnt prescribe them otherwise through the damage they cause, so thanks but i think ill be on my way *big cheesy grin*""
Xxx
haha charlie_warlie I was asked the same thing a few days ago, though not about inhalers. There's a new chemist that's just opened up in the town I live in (no idea why when there are already two others on the same road and the town is tiny!)and they have all newly qualified staff who seem to think they know more than the docs do.
Slighly tempting to say yes, just to be irritating...
I have had this with my pharmacist and training GP at my local practice have to say my normal GP has put in capitals "" Off license dose prescribed by <consultant name> at Southampton"" on prescription screen so now prints out on repeat prescription and on meds label. So now get less questions...
Went to do asthma study and after half an hour or questions got the congratunations you have asthma statement (some what tongue in cheek...). Answer yes I was aware its asthma. Now can I give it to someone else as it a real pain in the ***!
I have been fairly lucky in that i haven't had any real ""stupid"" comments made to me about my asthma. If i start coughing too much hubby will say to me 'have you been taking your inhalers properly?' meaning both my inhalers.
A few weeks ago i had a really bad asthma attack in the early hours which took an hour to get under control. Afterwards he said that i had always been the one to look after him with his asthma, (now COPD)but he had absolutely no idea at what point he should be calling for help for me. Told him that if i have another attack like that one that after 10-15 minutes he really ought to call for some sort of help from the men in green.
Had several of the PE Teacher 'you've got asthma but can still run 800m' remarks.
Almost all my teachers at secondary school made the 'don't spray aerosols inside, people have asthma' speech to the class, but not one of them has ever bothered to stop people actually doing it. PE changing rooms are the worst - I do not understand why people feel it's necessary to coat every inch of their body and clothing with lynx.
my mum told me the asthmatic cat wheezes more than I do.
not sure how to take it.. lol
Today the doctor got the pulse ox thing out. Fubbling around with it she said 'it always take me a while to work out how to put this on', I nearly said let me do it, but she got it in the end. She'd also reset the peak flow to the top score not 0. She was good and very thorough otherwise
Ummmmmm.......slightly worrying!!! :-S
It is a little worrying, but it did make me giggle. My usual GP who's the lead on asthma is on holiday.
have you taken your inhaler""
""but your not coughing""
""its only asthma""
""but you take medication""
""you need to go get some fresh air""
""its just a cough""
LOTS MORE...there really is a very poor understanding of asthma
Coughing really badly when a couple of old ladies came up to me and one said
"" You need to see someone about that cough it could turn nasty""
I said it is OK I have it under control I have Asthma. She turned to her friend and said
"" I knew I was right! I love to be right! That IS a nasty cough. Didn't I say it is a nasty cough""
The other lady said ""you should listen to her she had a cold last last week"" ????????
Strange people.
apparently, brittle asthmatics dont need to have nebs at home!! o_O
xxx
My normal GP has this opinion too.... On this occassion went to see another Dr at surgery to get meds sorted out... still get odd grumblings about it even now...
I hate it when the (psychiatric) nurses where I work, assume they know all about how to manage my asthma just because they have some nurse training. Like 'oh you shouldn't take more that 2 puffs of ventolin, it's not effective if you take more'.
If I only ever took two puffs I would not be able to breathe.
'it's not asthma, it's anxiety'.
When my PF has dropped to 190 and I haven't been awake wheezing and trying to breathe all night.
Consultant wasn't impressed when I told him they'd ignored my obvious symptoms in favour of their maverick theories about my mental health!
When I was in the hospital after having chest surgery, I was having some asthma trouble after being under anesthesia for 8 1/2 hours. However, I was pretty drugged up, so kept getting distracted.
Meanwhile, I realized I hadn't gotten any of my inhalers, or montalukast in 24 hours, and then the pharmacy student comes by to find out which inhalers I take. Well this hospital didn't stock any of my particular inhalers, so then the pharmacist comes to see me, and then I think the head of pharmacy comes. Meanwhile I can't stop coughing and am having trouble breathing.
So, they finally send a respiratory therapist in the see me, and like I said I was a bit loopy, so I was like ""you know I need to have my motelukast pill."" He says ""oh, I don't do pills."" And then walks out.
About two days later, being discharged with no breathing treatments and no meds, and a bit less drugged up. I realized how crazy this all was! I think I did end up taking my inhalers that I happened to have from home, but my breathing was still not so great, and I ended up in hospital two weeks later with pneumonia! And had the same problem getting the same inhalers, and had to go home to get the right meds.
Bee
I was told that as a severe brittle asthmatic if I need nebs I should be in hospital. They worry that I may get a feeling of being in control when I really need hospitalisation. Don't really know what to think cos I can see both points of view.
Pauline, I'm in exactly the same place as you.
Cons won't give me nebs for the same reason and having recently experienced my first ICU/ventilation I now totally agree.
My cons worries that if I have a neb it will give me q false sense of security (i can deteriorate in seconds from being fine to barely any peak flow).
Hope this view poiny helps a bit!
Take care x
These are the various things I have been told by many different people over the years...
1). Get over it
2). It's not that bad
3). You're doing this for attention right?
4). Die quietly
5). I can't send you home, you have to return to your lessons
( this one really annoyed me, I understand that I tend to have a lot of days off school because of my asthma but if I can't stop barking and my peak flow is in the yellow then there really isn't any chance I'm going to survive the rest of the day. Needless to say I got my mum to ring the school and make them send me home )
Darling you should give up the smoking!
I explaned through the coughing I didn't smoke
My OH when I was trying to convince him to get someone in to see to the wasp's nest that is clearly somewhere near the back of our house, as we keep finding huge wasps:
""Stop being so silly, there's no need to be scared of them!""
Yes there is, I'm allergic! And after seeing one just fly up to my dad and sting him for no reason, I don't feel like taking any chances!
you've still got that cough!"" said to me by my ex-pe-teacher on a sunday morning after i'd been swimming and we were both on our way into the leisure centre for a swim. When i explained it was self-inflicted cos it was asthma brought on by the fact i'd just been running. Her reply to that was ""oh, in that case i've got no symapthy for you"" hahaha
That was fine by me cos i'd just had my inhaler and i knew the cough would calm down very soon - especially when i got swimming and so having to control my breathing
I coughed through a lecture today. Halfway through the computer broke so whilst we waited for an IT genius person to come and fix it the lecturer came up to me and said I should go home and go to bed to sleep of my cough. If only!
I appreciated the thought though
Respiratory physios and drs are meant to work together, right? Except:
Physio: Make sure you don't breathe too deeply; mostly you're fine but you need to make sure you're not breathing too deeply.
Dr: Yes, so make sure you keep working with the physios and do what they say as that will really help.
(Few mins later) Deep breaths. Take deep breaths! You're not breathing deeply enough!
Have had this more than once lol - I must be doing something right some of the time...
Nothing actually said to me on this occasion, but the incident made me laugh.
I was on a train recently and had a prolonged coughing session as I sat down. After a few minutes I spotted the woman in the seat opposite, who was clutching a baby, whisper something to her husband whilst looking nervously in my direction. The husband then got up and went to the next carriage.
A couple of minutes later, the womans phone rang and she made a swift exit shielding the baby as she went. It made me chuckle all the way home, the poor couple must have thought I had some nasty contagious disease!
While in Hospital this week with my Asthma..
A Reg suggested, 'see how we go without nebulisers for 24 hrs' .....!!!!!!
Er, I suggested as nebs are my mainstay treatment (I have severe / brittle asthma) that perhaps it wasn't a good idea..... other Docs with him were a bit alarmed......
PS I am home now and still nebbing every 3-5 hrs!
On asking my consultant if I could somehow find a way to reduce the steroids. He replied
"" Well you better set up your tent in A&E then""
Another Consultant.
On asking why my Asthma was deteriorating so badly. He replied:
"" Well I find that Asthmatics can be divided into 3 categories. Those that get better, Those that stay the same and those that get worse. You're in the getting worse category so there's not much I can do.
These never cease to amaze me people, keep them coming!!
At a funeral yesterday I got told by a friends mum that ""well, you'd best look after yourself properly or we'll be back here with you"".
Erm.....thanks for that!!
So only having been diagnosed a wk, youd think I wouldnt have any
well I had a great one off the asthma nurse herself!!
I walked in and she says 'you havent got asthma why are you here?' so I explained...she suggests to just do a peak flow anyway, then she says 'oh Im going to see if the dr will give you a steroid inhaler'....erm you just said I didnt have it!!!
The paramedics last night: ""Just breathe
Oh dear, we hardly need reminding when it's the only thing we're thinking about.
Hope you're ok now Crazy Cumbrian
Back home now, but was a bad night, especially with all the saturday night drunks in A&E and the ever helpful paras reminding me to breathe, lol.
I just love it when you're told to ""just breathe""......sounds soooo simple doesn't it?!
Glad ur better crazycumbrian!
Take it easy xx
Oh boo, scratch that, Angelica. Just started coughing again. Looks like I might be in for a repeat performance. Why don't our lungs ever take the weekend off?!
Oh no, hope you're ok
but of all the silly things to say!!!
you've just got a cough, asthma doesn't exist- it's just an excuse!""
From my lab lecturer today when I asked if I could the lab leave the lab for a second to use my inhaler (biohazard control lab so I couln't take it in) You'd think a professor who teaches physiolgy would know something about asthma!
'When was the last time you saw your GP'
'are you fit and well'
This was after he'd seen my meds list in the middle of severe asthma attack
My fav is the ""it's all in your head"". Yeah, because I thought that an elephant on my chest and constant coughing was fun.
Had a good one from a consultant psychiatrist today. I suffer from dysthymia as well as asthma. Was having a review of my depression meds, so she went through ALL the medication I am currently on... then very smugly said ""I've suffered from asthma since I was a child and it is well controlled so I don't even need to use an inhaler. Asthma isn't really even considered a real disease anymore because it is easily controlled with medication. Yours should be under control.""
Me: ""Well it isn't""
Her: ""So who prescribed you all this asthma medication then?""
I listed her all the docs/consultants who feel I obviously need all that medication, then listed all the times I've been admitted to hospital with life threatening asthma attacks (she's apparently never experienced that herself). It shut her up, but she couldn't help making one last ""well it should be under control"".
Aaaargh, I need to hit something now.
I was told by a gp that my son couldn't possibly have asthma as he wasn't 2 yet and was just a bit fat! This was dispite the constant cough, waking every night sounding like he'd run the 100 metres and being admitted to hospital 3 times in 3 months with 'viral' wheeze!! Needless to say we didn't go back to her again!
When my son had his first really bad attack at 2yrs old, I rang my gp and was asked to put him on the phone so he could hear him. I asked why he had to hear him as I had just described what was happening and was told that there is no way I could possibly know what an asthma attack was. The ridiculous thing was that I saw the same gp on a regular basis for my asthma check ups due to being asthmatic for over 10yrs at that time. After hearing my son over the phone I was told he had to come out to see my little boy as I should have known he was having an asthma attack.....?????
I had to call NHS direct as I was having a bad attack and they rang for an ambulance. Before they arrived, a paramedic came to the house, she came in carrying two very large heavy bags and proceeded to ask me what my peak flow was. When I wrote down 180 cause I was unable to talk, she told that that was ok as she was asthmatic herself and never had a peak flow reading above 200 and it didn't bother her so in her opinion I wasn't having an asthma attack I was just holding my breath. The ambulance crew arrived and she repeated what she had said to them, they told her I was to go to the hospital. Wen I got to hospital and had tests and X-rays taken, I was in fact very poorly with pneumonia and a really bad asthma crisis. A month of antibiotics and 6 weeks of steroids was the result.
A while ago i got whisked off to icu as by the time paramedics got to me i had lost consciousness. my heart meds/pottassium count was totally hay wire plus asthma attack. im also paraplegic so i wasnt at the time able to insist that my wheelchair came with me. so got to the chest ward. ""no we dont have amy wheelchair you can borrow"" so im confined to bed becaise you cant be bothered to bprrow one pff another ward or the entranc hall. great!
Hannarose, I'm so sorry you're stuck in bed like that, it must make you feel rotten. I'm guesing you're feeling too poorly to get assertive and demand that someone gets you mobile so I hope very much that you've got a friend or family member who can either bring your wheelchair in for you or make enough fuss so that you can borrow one. I'll be thinking of you and hoping that you improve enough to go home soon.
Hannahrose I'm sorry that you are captured and unable to get out of bed because nobody has got a wheelchair for you to use it must be so frustrating for you.
I hope you start to feel better soon
Thanksso much for the support everyone!
my mum came round and got my wheelchair out the flat for me so that was all good. now been allowed home for christmas but with home O2 which is a pest... any wY better tha another xmas in costa
Had to add comments from the locum today.
""Have you taken your inhalers?"" Well I'm here for an asthma exacerbation but no, I would never have thought of taking my inhalers!
Doc: Have you had the flu jab?
Me: No
Doc:Why not?
Me: I never have it.
Doc: Do you want it?
Me: No
Doc: Well I guess it's a bit late now. (having just told me I have a chest infection. Maybe I'm wrong but I don't think the flu jab prevents chest infections does it? I definitely don't have flu!)
Said to me tonight by my poor lomg-suffering piano teacher ""try to get rid of that cough by next week"" She wasn't being nasty i thing partly my cough was annoying her but partly she was just concered for me.
At one point she also said about one of the pieces i was playing ""it needs to breathe a bit every so often"" so i jokingly replied ""yeah, a bit like its player""
You've been going on those healthy runs again haven't you?!""
Said by my friend's partner in response to the fact i'm coughing - and to be fair he's partly right, it's just that the running is taking me longer than it should / longer than normal to recover. Ah well
Waiting to see my consultant on Friday with my mum and son in tow and had a bit of a wait.
My mum starts complaining about all the coughing going on in the waiting area (me included).
Ermmm....... Its a respiratory clinic, what do you expect?!?!
That made me laugh Angelica.
I just said to other half ""I think I'll go for a little afternoon nap""
He replied ""I thought you were saying ""I think I'll go for a little afternoon run"" but no. You lazy tart""
Bearing in mind he saw me this morning struggling to breathe as we walked along the beach.
That doesnt sound very nice
I hope a swift poke in the eye sorted him out Lou!
ive had... its only asthma, dont worry about it
or
what should i do if your having an asthma attack, take you home for a lie down
or
off a paramedic... you dont need to go to hospital i cant hear a wheeze.. bare in mind i was barely concious at the time and ended up in icu!
or
a triage nurse once said 'just put her in a side room and give her 20 minutes her oxygen levels at 94% theres no hurry from a dr yet, if she gets worse then ask a dr to go in.. otherwise theres no hurry'
or the best one yet...
will you pack in making that horrible noise, its really getting on my nerves!!!
i could probably remember a few others but they're the ones that always stick in my head!!!
It certainly did Angelica, well not in the eye, but he did get a poke and an oi for his cheek.
Sassyj- I can't believe the triage nurse said that, and the paramedic too!! I often get shushed for coughing and wheezing.
from an A and e doctor
you don't need to bee in a and e go see your gp -
atfer breathing problems leading to loc
no whezeing not asthma
nice
The one i get most often from people at work is 'That cough isn't contagious is it I don't want it', then even after explaining thats its asthma related they still ask if they can catch it.
Saw a new consultant today who came out with ""at least your stably unstable"" not quite sure how to take that hehe
Stably unstable??? What does THAT mean?!
I've had some good ones...
""I don't want to hear you using your asthma as an excuse again, I have it and I'm fine"" - this from a PE teacher after I failed miserably at a bleep test - I managed two laps when you had to run 5 to even get a score!
""Stop coughing, go back in there and get dressed"" - after running out of the PE changing rooms due to the ridiculous amount of aerosol from my lovely fellow students who knew I had asthma.
""Where's your paper bag? You are always meant to carry a paper bag if you know you have panic attacks."" - this from a perfect stranger just before I was taken into A&E.
And possibly my favourite, from a paramedic a few weeks ago. I was tachycardic after 6 puffs of my reliever. ""Shall we give her a neb anyway and see if she explodes?"" Made my friend laugh at any rate!
I could tell it was you coming, I could hear you coughing
Yup lou ive had that too. At peast its original
I've had that one as well - people at work never have much trouble finding me.
It's a classic, but this time I was outside (coming home from work) and other half was inside and opened the door to great me with this
haha lou i've had similar
i was going to my dancing and sometimes if i have an early lesson my teacher has the outide door locked and i have to ring her to let me in. This particular day my phone was being stupid so i was standing outside trying to sort it when Ann came down - she said she'd heard me coughing - from the office upstairs!!! I do hope she'd had the window open haha
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I went to a ceilidh last night and all the crazy mad energetic dancing (unsurprisingly) set off my asthma. One of my (new) friends after enquiring was i ok said ""you're not going to make me do first aid on you are you?? Although i could do with the practice, i've not done it since september"" hahaha
Hahaha, brilliant.
My physio said to me the other day: ""do you have some sort of problem?""
""well yes. Otherwise i would walk in here on my two feet. No. Wait. I wouldnt even be paying you social calls twice a week!
A Paramedic said to me that my lungs sound as though they are eating a packet of Monster Munch crisps.
ROFL. Thanos Angelica
On telling someone at work my chest felt tight I had the classic ""Have you had your inhaler?"" Yes but it isn't working very well which is why my chest is tight!
Sitting in A&E on Tuesday night with an asthma attack, fighting for breath, sweating beyond belief, the first of three nebulizers strapped to my face and my husband says, ""You seem fine now"". Could. Have. Killed. Him!
Today's appointment with a specialist at the hospital (I'm 29, been asthmatic all my life) and he says ""Do you know how to take your inhalers properly?"" to which I decided to smack myself on the head with one and said ""Erm, like that?!"" The same specialist later asked ""Do you know how to use a peak flow"" to which I decided to play it like a saxophone. Immature? Yes. The look on the specialist's face? Priceless!
""A bit of fresh air will do you good!"" and ""Have you taken your inhaler?"" are other classics.
lol Natalie! I so wish I'd seen his face too! I realise they probably need to ask that kind of thing (after all, I've been asthmatic (with a gap in the middle where it went quiet) since I was 7, now 27 and I'm a bit crap at it still) but surely they can do it in a way that's not totally patronising...
PS Asthmagirl - lol!
Sorry I don't have anything to add really...have already said the classic 'maybe it would help if you got some exercise?' and (from someone I barely knew) 'have you tried psychotherapy?'
You have cushingoid features......ermmmmm charmed!!! :S
the classic - ""OMG that noise is your LUNGS!?!?! i assumed the lift was broken!
I'm super sensitive to aerosols including deodorant, so I've gotten 'ew, so you never use deodorant?' before.
• in reply to
I'm super sensitive to aerosols including deodorant, so I've gotten 'ew, so you never use deodorant?' before.
This just shows that, as I thought, many people don't seem to have heard of roll-on! So many people at my gym use it and I want to say 'you know, no-one has suggested I smell and I don't spray myself with flowery-smelling stuff that gets in people's lungs/throats'...
At my dancing lesson today, on noticing my breathing was quite heavy and very slightly irregular my teacher said ""don't die on me!"" I smiled in a laughing-sort-of way (if that makes sense LOL) but the other 2 girls in the class looked at each other slighlty shocked and laughed in a 'what a thing to say' way. Ann (the teacher) told them ""she knows what i mean"" hahaha
OK, so this is a very old one and said to my mother some 36 years ago by a Dr when I was a small child and my mother (an asthmatic herself) was trying to get me diagnosed with asthma. ""She can't have asthma because you have asthma and the odds that someone else in the same family has asthma are ridiculous"" Of course I realise that back then less was known about asthma, but really?
friend: what were you in hospital for
me: asthma! you knew that, i never go to hospital for anything else!
friend: Well you were in for a week, i assumed it must have been something a bit worse
At this point i went into a long rant about how asthma attacks kill people, and that there are people in hospital for a lot longer than a week for asthma, i happen to be the type of person who is usually either very ill and in resus, or fine and at home, but this doesnt mean asthma isn't bad!!!
me: see...i...dont...know...what...i...sound...like...when....my....breathing...is...this.... bad....you...know...from...the...out...side
Friend: right, imagine darth vadar dying
me: yeah
Friend: yeah - like that!
I've had the classic, 'please can you die later/quietly' and the 'omg that noise is your lungs' always amusing!
I have been told to ""man up"" numerous times at university.
If I say I can't go clubbing because it triggers my asthma some people reply saying ""course you can go out, I have asthma"". Clearly our asthma is not the same. No one's is. Alot of naivety out there, even from those who have been diagnosed.
Mum - have you used your blue thingy?
During a bad attack whilst waiting for OOH to call back:
Mum - have you used your blue thing?
Me - yes
*ringing back 111*
Mum - don't you think you're being a bit obsessive?
After having to have a day off work:
Manager (smiling) - you had a day off because of asthma?
hehe xxx
We wish all our asthmatics were like you..... Said the resus cons showing my ICE app around to his colleagues!
I would have laughed if I'd been able!!
The thing about you is you don't conviently fit in to any of the books or guidelines.
In fact it's esayer if I just rip up the book
while at a christmas party a couple of years ago i was offered some alcohol, I politely declined stating that I was on antibiotics, I was then offered so food and this old fart piped up and said
""she can't eat, she's on antibiotics!""
lol
Best one I had recently was ""Try and breathe more quietly!"" by a nurse in A+E, before ""You need to think positively so that this attack calms down"" I wanted to strangle her with my drip line I think!
Last week, whilst being wheeled into a&e by a paramedic-
""She'll be okay. she's just doing a darth vadar impression""
He then proceeded to wheel me in, tripped up and one of the wheels skidded into a plug socket on the wall, ripping it about a foot away from the wall.
He says- ""Let's take you to the paediatric a&e instead""
There is no such thing as to mutch ventolin
Last friday, at school, before I quit in ambulance, my pathophysiology teacher who is also a paramedic come to see me
Him: You're breathing is not good, you know you need to go to the hospital
Me: I know but I don't want to. I'm tired of the hospital and all this crap.
Him: But you know that the sooner you go, the shorter you stay... and it reduce the risk of another intubation.
Me: I know, I know but..
Him: And I don't want to ventilate you
My friend : me neither
Finaly, I go and was intubated for the fourth time since march this year.
Well had a strange semi- asthma related occurrence today.
I was sitting in the pharmacy waiting for my prescription and I end up chatting to the two ladies next to me. I happen to mention I'm waiting for steroids as my asthma is playing up again (I vaguely know the younger lady through a friend).
And out of the blue the old lady pipes up ""Have you got at hairy chest?""
I don't know this woman at all so I reply, ""excuse me?""
""Well I've had one since they put me on steroids, still there even though I stopped"" she explained ""so have you got one?""
""erm well not that I've noticed""
at which point accquataince saves me form awkwardness by joking "" now you're going to make her paranoid!""
was a bit of a weird one...
In past have had: ""you sound like darth vader"" and ""you sound like a frog"" (probably true at time but not very helpful when having an attack!""
In fact I apparently sound so much like the foremention man on the dark side of the force one o0f my friends call me wheezing / having a n attack my darth vader impression 
Also when I was at school got this wonderful one: ""X has asthma and they can run fine. You're just making excuses!"" (while i had stopped to take my inhaler)
That cough is your signature!! (said to me by a cleaner i'm friendly with at the baths LOL)
we've had INSET training today with an external trainer (who obviously doesn't know me)
i was coughing - maybe more than i realised actually and he said to me ""are you ok?"" i think he was about to ask did i want some water then seeing the bottle on the table in front of me changed his mind and said ""I know CPR!""
Took that as a sign maybe i should have my inhaler hahahaha
today - ""are you ok? your lips are blue ...
what a helpful comment Laurs!!!
I was sort of told off by a nurse on wednesday night LOL
Some wednesday evenings i go out running with the ""Stormers"" - a ladies only running group. Me and susan were and are always at the back, every so often the back leaders would turn round to check we were ok. Towards the end i was starting to struggle with my breathing but i thought i'd be ok to get back to the baths. Marie the leader was with us at this point and susan asked me something but i answered with a thumbs up rather than verbally. Marie was asking me questions and everything was non-verbal response. she said to me ""you're not asthmatic are you?"" well obviously that got a nod yes so she asked where my inhaler was, i patted my bag so she told me to stop and take it - she wasn't going to let me carry on without haha. i didn't know she was a nurse at this point but she was saying she got changed at work to go running and the doctor didn't recognise her - when i was talking again i asked her was she a nurse - then i knew why she was nagging me to have my inhaler hahahaha
OOH doctor I saw this morning said ""are you sure you have asthma"".
well thats not particularily helpful asthmagirl!?! why did he say that? you feeling better now?
Soph,
When arrived at OOH doctor I was not wheezing so I suspect it was no wheeze no asthma. I could not believe what the doctor had just said, when I did eventually find my voice again I said according to my Respiratory Consultant at Royal Brompton Hospital I do. She then told me to continue doing the treatment I am already doing.
Hope you are OK.
Do we need to clean your lungs out with a bottle brush?
Urr, no!
When the OOH GP visited me at home this week he said ""you know as much about asthma as I do"".
My GP cheerfully told me he had an old carpet beater at home, and suggested to my hubby that they hang me upside down and give me a good whack LOL! Good job I know him well, he's been my GP for 15 years
Said about me, in front of me, by resp nurse to HDU nurse:
This is the sort of patient you have to watch closely. She may seem fine now but you could lose her in minutes.
Well, thats comforting!
In resus last night:
Me: I...don't...wheeze!!!
Dr: let me listen to your chest ... I can't hear anything ...
Nurse: perhaps that's cos it's silent?!
Dr: don't you ever wheeze?!
He was more hung up on the fact I'm a non wheezer than the fact I was in resus with a lovely silent chest haha!!! Hoping to bust out today and hatching a plan of action
Popped into my gp practice to pick up a prescription and bumped into the ""asthma nurse"" who doesn't deal with anyone above step 3. Spoke about my recent admissions ... She asked if I was just panicing and hyperventilating.
I had to explain that it was my po2 which was low not pco2 so couldn't be hyperventilating!!!
""Next time breathe into a brown paper bag""
Some people say some crazy things!
Paper bags are not advised for hyperventilation or panic attacks any more..... d aft nurse!
Kate - I could have cried out of frustration!! My ABGs showed I was having a severe acute and couldn't put two words together let alone a sentence, plus needed to be in resus .... If she had any idea what she was on about she'd realise that ABGs show the opposite during an asthma attack to a panic attack/hyperventilating lol.
I don't think I'll b having my next review with her
Today a relative asked me how am with regards my asthma, hay fever and the very high pollen count and hot sunny weather, when I told them that I have had my moments their response was ""oh, do not dwell on it because you become obsessed and boring"". I have not mentioned how I am feeling to them they were the ones to talk about my health.
Their comment made me really cross because I never do that.
Huh, charming!
My boss today ""what are you using that for (ventolin) you sound fine to me"" ......argh the downside to being a non-wheezer
Whilst walking past a dog at the park that was trying to run ahead and thus choking itself on its lead in the process ""that dog sounds like you trying to breath"".
Resus dr: ""I'm not worried about your asthma, your chest is clear"". Errr - perhaps it's silent?!!
I'm sat in treatment room at Gp's while asthma nurse runs back to back nebs waiting for the ambulance to arrive.
GP raises voice so i can hear him over the nebuliser.
' your lungs are like trees. Healthy people have lungs like trees in summer and can breathe properly . Yours are like trees in autumn, we are trying to stop them getting to winter'
Thanks for that. It really didn't help
Sorry to hear you aren't feeling well, Sarah.
From my husband away on a business trip in Hungary:
Budapest is a nice, hopping city; especially at night....But every three feet you will find someone, or someones, smoking on the sidewalk. Guess you can't come visit.
Bye bye.
Honestly the people I get along with are quite polite and doesn't really offend me in any way. Sometimes I here something like: Better go to the doctor, that doesn't sound good - but only from people who don't know about it.
A doctor said to me your lungs are very happy.
That's all very well saying that, but why do my lungs keep getting stroppy causing me to have a tight chest and wheeze.
Oh, you're fat.
My mother this afternoon, seeing me for the first time in 4mths. 'Thanks to the pred, this was the greeting I got rather than her usual 'Youre too thin'.
Thanks mum, love you too!
A cup of tea will sort you right out. It really helps calm you down you know!""
Someone give me a shotgun.
elephant I must say a bru does solve 9/10 of my problems. If I'm having an attack I don't want one, but I do right after one I am a true northener
Watch her, she's a non-breather (overheard one a&e doc to another treating me)
Wow, your wheeze is completely gone (after mucho meds), oh no, there's a little cheeky one there!
An elderly neighbour:
You don't have asthma, you have a thyroid problem, I knew as soon as I saw you ....
Err, what the ... ?!
*after being rushed in by an ambulance with flashing lights and sirens the whole way to the hospital, and the paramedics almost shouted everything wrong to the a&e receptionist*
Nurse: 'so, what seems to be the problem?'
Today my friend after I had taken few puffs of inhaler
""I don't think it's asthma you were ok after you had that""
And she was with me at doctors when I was diagnosed lol
In a survival of the fittest situation, you would already be dead"" my friend gave me a good giggle
My husband: ""I think you should just go off and practice wheezing for a few hours"" (said in reference to his frustration with doctors who get hung up on the missing wheeze).
My sister after countless hospital trips with me:
The doctors seem split down the middle of those who think youre going to die any minute and those who dont believe theres anything wrong with you.
Its true too, Im just stuck in the middle trying to live with it.
• in reply to
The doctors seem split down the middle of those who think youre going to die any minute and those who dont believe theres anything wrong with you.
That sounds like a good description of my previous GP who kept me on 35-40mg of pred for several months because he was afraid I'd blow up. In one conversation he first started by telling me ""I can keep you alive"" (really - I though my lungs were doing that); then tried to convince me that my many asthma flares were anxiety and I should take an SSRI (anti-anxiety drug), despite him agreeing I had no symptoms of anxiety. Then I suggested that if he really thinks this is nothing more than anxiety, I should go off the prednisone. He gravely told me I couldn't because ""it would be dangerous"".
Stop coughing! Said to me by my neighbour who had been chain smoking all afternoon.
When I'd used my nebuliser doing back to back nebs someone said to me ""you have heard of those yellow and green things called ambulances haven't you"".
It's just as well I know that doctor very well !!! Yes, doctor hint taken note of.
Doctor I saw on walk-in this morning because of neck and shoulder pain: you've got to get rid of that asthma.
Me to him: we've been trying for a year and haven't figured out how
Me to self: if only asthma could be put out with the trash in the morning or sold off in a rummage sale.
Oh Beth, if it was that easy, eh?!?
We have to balance sorting your asthma with not giving you a heart attack.
Said by my dr while deciding how fast to increase my terbutaline. Erm, yes I could definately do with avoiding a heart attack at 33!
said to me by my dancing teacher on saturday
""are you breathing?? You worry me when you go quiet!"" haha As it happened i wasn't even struggling at that point
My sister said you me yesterday..... You sound terrible, do you use your inhaler??
Haha I would love not to use an inhaler!!!
Lisa x
(while on first aid course) are you awake? I was trying not to disturb everyone else coughing!
At A and E recently I overhead a nurse say that the lady in bay 29(me!) should be sent home as she wasn't wheezing! And they needed to clear some bed space!
I was really struggling at the time . Unbelievable and really scary to hear from someone who is supposed to be helping you not risking your life.
I told her that not all asthmatics wheeze but she was not impressed.
I have also been told recently to get a grip and stop coughing so much. . Oh.....how I wish I could stop!
And that having hay fever was much worse!
I have also been told recently to get a grip and stop coughing so much. . Oh.....how I wish I could stop!
And that having hay fever was much worse!
Classic from the Doctors receptionist , I explain that I'm desperate for an appointment and the pharmacy are refusing to dispense medication until I've seen a doctor again. I've been phoning daily for a week and still can't get in with my doctor so this is how today's call went:
8.25am I'm afraid there's no appointments left with Dr X today , I replied ok well I really need to see the Dr are there any pre book able appointment. No I'm afraid he has nothing for the next five weeks , I reply but i can't wait that long and I've not enough medication and the pharmacy won't do anymore until I've seen Dr Again.
Receptionists suggestion was to phone when the appointments line opens at 8 am daily. To which I replied that's impossible for me to do I've been trying for a week as close to eight as I can (usually about 8.30). She replied
""If you needed an appointment that bad you'd phone at 8am everyday until you got one then wouldn't you , and if not you'll have to wait till the new year""
I really wanted to remind her that using a phone whilst driving is actually illegal and whilst I really really do need to see my doctor pretty damn soon, if I don't go to work whilst I'm waiting to be seen I will loose my job and that I wouldn't have enough medication to last until Boxing Day that I wouldn't want to place a bet on surviving to new year.
That seemed to do something as I've now got an appointment to see another doctor at the surgery next week ! Grrr
Just very fed up of the vicious circle ... Can't get any meds can't get an appointment , see another doctor who knows nothing about my situation.... Pointless
Sorry guys just needed a rant x
Friend seeing me coughing in supermarket: (Pause) Ah, you're fine - you're just turning red, not blue.
all my friends: Does the pharmacy of Soph have anything for *insert symptom here*
Also, I have a system to sort out my meds, green box is regulars, yellow box is PRN, red box is OTC and blue box is salbutamol and so i quite often get ""can i borrow your red box"" coz they know thats the stuff that they can take hehehe!
Less directly as asthmatic, but on an asthma admission.
Junior doctor number 3 trying to cannulate me (2hrs after first started trying) Grabbed my arm, hit it fairly roughly and got cannula in first time - painful but in. Turned to me and said 'Every time I do a difficult cannulation I thank God Ive got good veins, so much better for your general health'.
Erm, thanks. That may be true but doesnt help me very much when mine are rubbish!
Been to see a doctor not my usual but that's above somewhere, absolute blast of an appointment :
Talking about my asthma , dr changes mid sentence to ""what contraception do you use "" - well I'm baffled can't understand this , followed up with ""you sure you don't smoke "" nope never ....
Still talking about my asthma - take latest weight ( actually anyone know why they insist on doing this) "" oh you've put some weight on recentlly haven't you, when you going to loose it "" Polite reply of "" thanks , maybe after Christmas ""
I've had a rash on my hand and arm for a couple of days very itchy I suspected an allergic reaction I'm good at them so had been taking antihistamines and it's improving so showed dr while I was there "" nope no idea what that is, when you get home take a photo on a digital camera , you have one right? Just watch and see"". Has the camera magic healing properties I'm wondering? Or is he planning on robbing my house tonight? , guess I'm ment to actually be comparing it for changes !!
I think some drs have targets of things they are meant to ask about and are unsubtle and a bit rubbish about it ('ooh woman of childbearing age in my surgery, can tick off asking about contraception!)
I had an appt last week for something totally unrelated to asthma (it is kind of sad that this pleased me lol). I was sure that GP (who is one I've never seen before and not the one I've been seeing re asthma who has been amazing) was going to ask anyway because my notes are so full of it (In fact since I""ve not long been at this surgery my notes pretty much entirely consist of full-on asthma stuff/discharge/clinic letters etc.) but amazingly enough he didn't!
Until the end of the appt when I took the chance to ask for some more Ventolin while I was there (they've still not sorted out sending prescriptions to my local pharmacy) and he possibly felt the need to say something relevant? Which was one question 'how old were you when you were diagnosed with asthma?' I said '7', he just said 'oh right' and nothing more.
errr right? Not that I especially wanted or needed to discuss asthma in this appt and it's a reasonable enough question but seems a rather odd one to just ask in isolation then not follow up with anything else... I was expecting more a form enquiry of 'how's your chest/breathing?' - even if not really interested it would make more sense on its own! I used to always always get asked how chest was at old surgery no matter what I was there for hehe but not completely random questions.
Oh and lil tinx - re weight - they always check it at hospital clinic and last time the nurse commented I'd put on weight (I'm hoping some of it was boots lol but probs not all was). err thanks...I think I'd noticed, did you have to draw attention and make me feel crappy? Particularly when followed by cons saying 'oh I could tell you're still on steroids from your face'. Cheers guys, you make me feel really great about myself esp when some of it I really can't help because of the pred (which cons put me on and was then bitching about the fact I hadn't come off when he wanted...eerr that was because your colleagues told me to stay on it, you think I love it that much?)
You're chest sounds clearer today (said by a work colleague) you're not wheezing!! You must be getting better!
Hmm perhaps that's because my lungs aint shifting much!
Thanks Philomela don't feel quite so intimidated now, would never thought of targets and being of child bearing age! Thought he was being damn right nosey and couldn't understand why it would be anything to do with my asthma - what I was there for ! Doh!
Thanks also for making me feel slightly less alienated about weight , it seems to be there most favourite line of enquiry everywhere at the moment , still rather cross that he had the nerve to ask when I was going to loose it , like I chose to put it on - it's gone on for a reason !! Still won't let it stop me enjoying Christmas
I wonder if there was a reason your doctor asked you when you were diagnosed , I no one I used to see was convinced that it ran in 7 year cycles, not that I liked the theory I've never been able to prove it, or maybe he decided if you'd had it since seven you didn't need lots of questioning
Don't think we will ever understand what goes on in there heads ....
My friend told me to use a brown paper bag when I have an asthma attack, I said to him no I need my inhaler when I have an attack and he said a brown paper bag works just as well, and how his asthmatic sister uses one all the time.
I had a really bad attack about 45 mins after running a half marathon and was transferred from the race medical tent to hospital by ambulance. I was with my mum, who was running too and had just finished when I had the attack, so she was still in her running gear, number and all (I'd had time to put on my hoodie and trackies over my race vest and shorts before the attack happened).
The doctor in A&E: so what were you doing when this happened?
Me: Erm... it was after I ran the half marathon?
Doctor: Ah, were you running too? I thought it was just your mum. Well, that makes sense then!
Doh!
While in hospital for second admission within 2 weeks (4th in 5months and ever)
Me: I just don't know why I'm having such bad attacks at the moment. I never used to before and I can't seem to pin down a change in my life recently or anything.
Junior Doctor: It's because you have asthma
Me: I meant I'm unsure why it's suddenly worsened
Junior Doctor: Asthma just does that sometimes
While I understand this is possibly the case, it was not exactly the best way to have it explained to me especially when I was alone on a ward and kind of scared.
I sort of wanted to shout, yes I know it's asthma thats why I called an ambulance and eventually ended up talking to you on this ward. *face palms*
Respiratory Nurse later in the day explained it better as in with asthma they can't always pin down ta specific cause of a flare and while it would be nice to know in case you have any new triggers etc. sometimes all you can do is to treat the symptoms of major attacks and wait and see if it'll settle down in between sort of thing. (obviously while on steroids etc.)
im in every 6-10 days with asthma attacks and their is this one doctor i hate!!! i was rushed in by ambulance and the nurse when i arrived put me on another neb and then this doctor came over ripped the mask off my face (almost taking my nose with him) and litterly im not joking put the stethascope on my chest over my thick jumper and top and said your fine im sending you home, it was just an anxiety attack, so my mum took me home and i was rushed in again 2 hours later and saw a different doctor who then put me on magnesium drips and amanophyllin drips, i was then taken up ojn the ward and saw the same doctor who then listened to my chest properly and said i dont think i should of sent you home earlyer and my mum then said ""well i could of told you that she wasnt well because she couldnt breathe and then the doctor said i am very sorry i was in a rush and then walked out, me and mum couldnt believe it... we dont see that doctor anymore... cant imagine why...
Just put a towel over your head over a bowl of steaming water (that was advice from a on call doctor 1/2 hour before being admitted into hospital for two weeks as my attack was so bad
Some of the comments posted have made me laugh. I have recently been diagnosed and sadly not having too good a time with my asthma at the minute, but when I have informed one of my friends days, they said "" well, it's only asthma, that's nothing, you will be fine""...... if only.... I have had a series of small asthma attacks since I was diagnosed. I know I will be ok once its under control,but coughing fits and pain in my chest when I can't even breath is certainly not fine! Lol xx
Went to pick up my prescription today as normal and met by newbie pharmacist. He asked me would I consider giving up smoking. I explained I had NEVER smoked and he said that it was HIGHLY UNLIKELY that I had late onset asthma if I had never smoked. Oh well I must be wrong and I must have smoked in a previous life then.
Asked by over ten different nurses and doctors on last hospital admission how long I had smoked.
Also asked by dentist if I had considered giving up smoking to help my asthma - since when did everyone become an expert on asthma.
Can I just have it printed on my forehead - I HAVE NEVER SMOKED
To me the things I hate the most are:
Have you taken your inhalers? - as if I am an idiot and wouldnt take them before ringing the ambulance
How long is this going on? - does it matter?
Has this happened before? - as if you dont know what to do
What did the docs give you last time?- seriously is this a question to ask when someone cannot breathe?
Shall we give you some nebs?- what else can you do?
Does your parents know you are here? - as if I am still a little child in primary school !
These in the hospital usually and the following at the gp
How can I help you?- as if I havent told you my asthma isnt under control!
You chest sounds clear! - of course on top of 3 laters of clothes what do you expect to hear?
So you have been admitted to hospital? Why you didnt come here as you only had an infection?-I was in intensive care and I saw you the day before I got admitted so what am I supposed to do?
You have panick attacks not asthma. Your peak flow is not that bad compared to last month!-its only 300 when i should have 500 so thats 60%!
Try not to use your inhaler so much!- what am I supposed to do then?
Your action plan is go to the hospital if you get worse!- didnt you just asked why I went to hospital and who wants to go to hospital in the middle of the night and get more abgs done?
Finally you shouldnt have came here. You should see the nurse first then book an appointment.-marvelous
Ericthedog• in reply to
To me the things I hate the most are:
Have you taken your inhalers? - as if I am an idiot and wouldnt take them before ringing the ambulance
How long is this going on? - does it matter?
Has this happened before? - as if you dont know what to do
What did the docs give you last time?- seriously is this a question to ask when someone cannot breathe?
Shall we give you some nebs?- what else can you do?
Does your parents know you are here? - as if I am still a little child in primary school !
These in the hospital usually and the following at the gp
How can I help you?- as if I havent told you my asthma isnt under control!
You chest sounds clear! - of course on top of 3 laters of clothes what do you expect to hear?
So you have been admitted to hospital? Why you didnt come here as you only had an infection?-I was in intensive care and I saw you the day before I got admitted so what am I supposed to do?
You have panick attacks not asthma. Your peak flow is not that bad compared to last month!-its only 300 when i should have 500 so thats 60%!
Try not to use your inhaler so much!- what am I supposed to do then?
Your action plan is go to the hospital if you get worse!- didnt you just asked why I went to hospital and who wants to go to hospital in the middle of the night and get more abgs done?
Finally you shouldnt have came here. You should see the nurse first then book an appointment.-marvelous
• in reply to
To me the things I hate the most are:
Have you taken your inhalers? - as if I am an idiot and wouldnt take them before ringing the ambulance
How long is this going on? - does it matter?
Has this happened before? - as if you dont know what to do
What did the docs give you last time?- seriously is this a question to ask when someone cannot breathe?
Shall we give you some nebs?- what else can you do?
Does your parents know you are here? - as if I am still a little child in primary school !
These in the hospital usually and the following at the gp
How can I help you?- as if I havent told you my asthma isnt under control!
You chest sounds clear! - of course on top of 3 laters of clothes what do you expect to hear?
So you have been admitted to hospital? Why you didnt come here as you only had an infection?-I was in intensive care and I saw you the day before I got admitted so what am I supposed to do?
You have panick attacks not asthma. Your peak flow is not that bad compared to last month!-its only 300 when i should have 500 so thats 60%!
Try not to use your inhaler so much!- what am I supposed to do then?
Your action plan is go to the hospital if you get worse!- didnt you just asked why I went to hospital and who wants to go to hospital in the middle of the night and get more abgs done?
Finally you shouldnt have came here. You should see the nurse first then book an appointment.-marvelous
If you're interested a lot of these questions do have valid medical reasons. The length of attack is important to note the severity or the attack and can be useful in working out if it is likely to be an infective exacerbation or an allergic one, and also helps in the interpretation of abgs.
Asking if it has happened before is useful in working out the general severity and level of control your asthma has. A reasonably mild asthmatic who doesn't take a lot of salbutamol is likely to be highly responsive to nebs, more so than you would be.
I'm always pleased when they ask about past treatments. It helps them work out what your asthma responds well to, and how generally responsive it is to different treatments. It can also tell them if you're likely to stop breathing on them!!
If they don't ask if you've taken your inhalers, and how much you've taken then it'll be unclear of the cause of tachycardia. It might be more appropriate to do 10piffs of salbutamol through a spacer as many mild asthmatics don't know they can take more than 2puffs at a time.
""Shall we give you some nebs then"" is essentially asking your consent for treatment, and there are plenty of things they can do other than nebs, and it could even be that you can't tolerate nebs for whatever reason (eg cardiac issues)
And eh need to know if next of kin are aware of where you are. They also need to know whether or not they can tell people. When I was in ICU the first time I wasn't conscious (well....not at first) and when I first woke up I was asking for my mum, they hadn't been able to contact her before then as an adult they can't contact her without my permission. Had they asked prior to me being unresponsive then they'd have been able to get her up for me before that! So it's useful!!
I get the irritation with most of the GP people, often gps can be highly uninformed about very severe asthma!!
mine's a funny one, 'said' on facebook as a joke
""Careful if you are stood behind a young boy in a queue Emma. He might not understand the deep breathing thing
Yesterday when requesting a emergency pack f, as we have done since he has been four, was refused and told by receptionist , me having it would mean I would be self diagnosing and prescribing , my response was surely isn't that what I am doing every time he has taken his reliever !
Ambulance crew to me after responding to a 999, having nebulised my daughter twice.
""You ok to run her to the hospital, this is not our area we were on our way home when called and we aren't very sure where your hospital is?'
People keep telling me to breathe, like, all the time!
My friend while I'm having an attack ""you sound like you have a dragon in your chest, shall we call it Phillip?""
I'm sure it was meant to be fun y but really not very useful
how far do we need to put this bbq away from you so you won't die?""
Doctor at local hospital: Did you know you don't have asthma
Me: According to my respiratory consultant I do.
Doctor at local hospital: You're not one of ours so where do you go.
Me: Assuming the doctor was referring to which hospital I attend I said Royal Brompton Hospital.
Doctor at local hospital: Ah I see, they must know, I guess.
You have just summed up my life! I would love to have a chat over a cold beer and laugh ourselves silly (inbetween a couple of toots of ventolin) we would put the world to rights !!!!!
""You sound like Johnny Vegas""
Which I know I kind of do (if he was a 5' northern irish female) so I didn't mind ?
I'm asthmatic, so I know if I tell you to just take slow deep breaths you'll probably punch me in the face.....but....erm......try to breath as calmly as possible????
At Secondary school at 11 years old, I was in trampoline club and had an asthma attack, my friend helped me walk to the office to speak to the first aid nurse. She took one look at me struggling to breath and promptly told me to ""Go for a walk!"" I did as I was told (or tried) came back, by this time my face was pale and my lips were blue. So she called my mum and said "" Your daughter's lips are blue, she is struggling to breath"" To which my mother replied..."" Why haven't you called an ambulance?!"" Silly woman, mum was close and so she came quick and took me to A&E for emergency treatment.
I am 35 now so this wasn't that long ago. Thankfully now school first aiders are more aware of asthma and the dangers... I am now a teacher and have never heard anyone give that advice since. Thank God!
Ive had while I just come from ITU just been ventalated , ( WELL YOU DONT LOOK ILL )
Also your wheezing is coming from your throat not your chest??????????
Anyone else had this nonsense saying its coming from your throat ??????
Also just come on to a ward from Intensive care , I ask for some water and the hca said Im looking after the sick people first !
Yes, I've been told I'm wheezing from my throat when actually I am very tight in my chest, struggling to breathe.
Also variations of ""please don't die on me!
After going to A+E, after my blue had run out, ""Well you don't look like your struggling to breathe, you'll have to stand there's no chairs left."" My then gf lost it at that point ...""he's blue, and obviously not breathing, now do your job
A GP I saw for a walk-in appointment when my regular Gp was not available:
* an FEV1 of 47% predicted is mild (ummm - even off medication 47% is considered severe and I was on 40mg pred )
* asthma is about hypoxia and you aren't hypoxic
* your asthma isn't severe - you've never been intubated.
* if I were you I'd live with a little bit of breathlessness instead of steroids (me to self: if you consider being short of breath walking down the hall or doing dishes or picking up and holding your niece or 4 courses of IV steroids in 7 months a little bit of breathlessness - well then yes).
Me: I'm concerned because breathing is so difficult all my muscles are sore and my rib cage is sore.
Doctor: so why didn't you take paracetamol?
OMG Beth that's awful!!!!!
My physio the other day asked me when my asthma review is, when i told her ""2 and a bit weeks"" she said ""I do wish you'd go sooner!"" haha
When i go to physio i've been running the night before & swimming immediately before and while my lungs are twitchy the physio sets me off again - even when i've had my reliever only half an hour before going in to see her!
I booked a gp appointment as my asthma had been bad for a while. The gp I saw was new qualified out of uni and said to me
""I'm sorry my book doesn't say what I should do. You'll just have to keep struggling on."" He quickly learnt that at some point he will have to use his brain as well as his book, when I ended up in hospital after a massive attack the next day
My MIL said 'you probably just have a bug, there's a lot going around this year' after me just being diagnosed with adult onset asthma.
Er that would be a bug which lasts months, it's symptoms are a cough, tight chest and breathlessness when near dust, animals, hayfever, pollution and strong smells which has no other bug-like symptoms like fever, sore throat, etc and is improved by taking inhalers then! Arghhhhh! I've had to book in for a reversible airways test to prove myself to everyone now. As if it isn't a stressful enough time as it is.
Can I add my personal favorites!
You need a de-humidifier
You need a humidifier
You need an ioniser
Have you done your peak flow
Have you taken your inhalers
Have you got your Salbutamol
How many times is that you've been off sick
Move somewhere warmer
Move to the coast
In hospital or at the emergency doctor's my absolute pet hate is:
I can't hear any wheeze so that's reassuring - this never reassures me as I've presented before with almost no air entry.
Argggghhhhhh!
I do feel better to find others have the same problems
From the dispensing assistant at the pharmacy last night, in a very disapproving tone ""I'm assuming you don't pay for all of that""
(feeling judged!) I did remind her I wasn't exempt, so yes I did but luckily have a PPC!!
My favourite of the last few weeks.. . well I don't really know what to do now.. Good luck!
And... Well your not wheezing so you don't need steroid tablets, but your peak flow and sats are rubbish. Are we sure you have asthma if you don't wheeze?!
Um.. OK!
I know that this is probably irrelevant but I've been diagnosed with asthma as a 6 month old baby and now I'm 16 years old an still living with asthma. I know so many people living with asthma and so my friend and I have been coming up with designs to create a flavoured asthma inhaler but we can't create anything because we don't know how many people would like one. If you'd like one please reply telling me your name, age, inhaler type, whether you've used a metered dose inhaler, describe the taste in two words, if you'd buy an inhaler and the flavour you'd prefer. Thank you all in advance.
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